Reconfiguration
by Phoebeus
Summary: A few minutes delay is all it takes to change the course of lives, and Atem is not certain if he should thank the gods or curse them for this shift in his destiny. For what did it mean for his fate, this chance to know the world again in his own flesh? What good can come lingering so solidly in a world he is meant to leave? [Puzzleshipping, Canon Branch-Off]
1. Chapter 1

**Title** : Reconfiguration  
 **Summary:** A few minutes delay is all it takes to change the course of lives, and Atem is not certain if he should thank the gods or curse them for this shift in his destiny. For what did it mean for his fate, this chance to know the world again in his own flesh? What good can come lingering so solidly in a world he is meant to leave? [Puzzleshipping, Canon Branch-Off]  
 **Rating:** **T** for Teen.  
 **Author:** Phoebe Delos  
 **Fandom:** Yu-Gi-Oh! DM  
 **Spoilers:** Pretty much the full series (manga edition).  
 **Disclaimer:** Yu-Gi-Oh! isn't mine. It is said, but true…  
 **Notes:** …this is very foolish of me, my friends. This is a story I intended to start only _after_ I finished my planned chapters for These Days We Celebrate- As I wanted to explore the heart of the puzzleboys' relationship in that 'canon' setting before branching off into what this story will explore. But I guess I'm just too excited, and really- I wanted to publish at least the first chapter for now because, it's like a promise to myself and you that I will write it in full. I've had far too much time talking for hours into my voice recorder about the ideas I have for this story! So… Please let me know what you think of this introduction, and stay tuned for updates- And check out These Days We Celebrate for events that will probably be referenced in this story! And please head over to my profile to place a vote on which stories I update next!

* * *

" ** _Zorc Inferno… Catastrophe!_** "

"Hurk-!" Pain laced through the pharaoh's heart and chest and poured out of him as blood, coughed up and left to trickle freely between his teeth.

" ** _Geh heh ha ha ha… I win the battle of memories… Now, Pharaoh, you will vanish into endless night…_** "

"Pharaoh!"

He… He could hear him- Hasan, crying out to him.

But the Pharaoh could not answer. No… Mahaad, and Mana, they were too weak to move, to even _speak_ as the former continued to disappear, and he? The pharaoh? He- His soul… was fading away.

He was done.

It was over.

He had drawn the last proverbial card, and there was nothing… There was nothing left.

"Pharaoh…" The voice- It had come closer, and when he used what felt like the very last of his strength to look up into that golden mask- Into the solitary eye showing through its cracks? He saw desperation there… Desperation, and sorrow. "I am so sorry, my pharaoh. I have failed you."

"N-no," The king strove to protest, but even letting the breath out for that single word bowled him over, and he had catch himself on shaking arms to keep his face from the sands.

"We, cannot let Zorc Necrophades win here," the man said somewhere above him, his words sliding over the back of his neck like wind. "No matter what, he cannot win."

" ** _And what power do you have to stop me now?!_** " the great demon jeered, raising his hand to prepare what would certainly be his _final_ attack.

Hasan's body jerked at the sight, and he rushed to kneel at the pharaoh's side. "My king, I did not ever wish for it to come to this, but there _is_ one last thing we can do, if there is truly no other hope left."

"-what…" The pharaoh breathed, but there was no need to finish the sentence. Hasan lowered his head to murmur in his ear before he got the full word out.

And however his head may swim… The king could not help but jerk back and stare in horror for what he heard. " _That_ -"

* * *

" _That_ …" The spirit of the Puzzle breathed, eyes glazing over the cards in his hand and the diorama before him as he registered what had just been whispered within the world of memories.

He… He _couldn't do that_ , could he? Did he _really_ have to make that drastic a move? That drastic a sacrifice… A _second time_?!

The other Yuugi wanted to say _no_ , for that was what resounded through his heart… But there was no denying it.

However the answer might distress him, he could see it- The same alarm and denial on Zorc's face.

"No-" the Ring's spirit breathed, only to slam his fist down upon the edge of the game board as he _glared_ at his opponent. "You wouldn't dare- You can't even remember that magic anymore!"

"I do not need to," the other Yuugi countered, even as his eyes soaked in the scene upon the board… Even as his nerves fried within him. "I have never needed to understand the Puzzle's magic to use it- And I can sense it. The very fact that I know it is possible makes it so."

"But you _will not_ -" All sense of advantage and control had abandoned the game master. He stood up, grit his teeth through every word. "You will stop me, that is so. But you will trap yourself, too- Not just in the game, but here and now! You will lose it all! Yourself, your memories… And even if they cannot go with us? Your friends' souls are still buried in the ruins of your own tomb!" he claimed, eyes wild and wide. "You will trap them there forever if you do not get them out before doing _that_!"

The other Yuugi choked on his breath, his eyes dropping to scour the collapsed mess that had once been his tomb.

 _Aibou_... _Everyone_ …

He- He couldn't-

* * *

"You must, your highness," Hasan insisted, the sympathy in his voice doing nothing to still the king's shaking.

He… He had been waiting… Waiting for _them_ …

 _Don't worry, you can count on us! We will find your true name!_

He… How could he do something like _that_ , when his partner and friends were still out there somewhere?!

It would be dooming them all, punishing them for ever trying hand to him hope!

"There is no more time, and no other path to take. If you do not do it," the masked man continued, voice tight with the weight of the demon _just there_ , ready to wipe them away. "Then we are _all_ lost. You, I, all of the people here… And all who exist beyond this world."

The pharaoh… He shut his eyes, dropped that much closer to the sands as the weight of each and every soul pressed down upon his back.

"…can you, cover me…?"

"-of course, my pharaoh," Hasan breathed, a relief far, far too sad shining in his voice as he stalled just long enough to bow his head… And then turned to shoot up into the air.

" ** _You fools!_** " The great darkness roared, reaching out to blast them away in a rushed, desperate bid to eradicate them. " ** _You think that you can trap me again?! I will be free! I will destroy you!_ "**

 _Hasan_ , the pharaoh breathed within his own mind, letting his gaze linger for a single heartbeat on the man throwing his life away to buy him time… Then he yanked the Puzzle from his neck. _Thank you_.

" ** _Nooo!_** " the beast screamed as he leaned into his attack, but it was pointless- For the spell the king cast was a quick, almost thoughtless one.

It was far, far too simple, after all, to shatter something.

And even the sands could not soften the blow when the pharaoh threw the gold down with the full force of his arm and all-but-depleted _ba_.

It broke to pieces instantly.

* * *

" _Noooo!_ " the Ring spirit echoed in the real world, holding his head as he hunched in on himself, looking as though he were being torn apart from the inside out… And then he simply collapsed, flopped against his side of the great diorama in a dead faint- His sleeping face not that of the demon, but of the boy he had haunted and plagued for far too many years.

"I hope, you can rest easier now, Bakura…" the other Yuugi breathed, and then his gaze shifted downwards, to the desert between them… And the golden pieces scattered across its surface.

For what had happened within the game had echoed outward, and the chain that hung over their heads clung to only one, solitary golden piece.

The rest of the Puzzle swallowed up by the sands.

"I am sorry, everyone, that I could not wait for you…" the spirit whispered to friends he could not see, every word coming out a little fainter as his body faded away.

For what flesh he had known in this world rested some feet away in a stone coffin, beside the bodies of his friends… And the spirit could not return to it now.

He could not return to _him_ …

 _Please, find a way out somehow_ , he said with a voice that could no longer make a sound, praying that the souls that could not follow him into the darkness would find their way back to the light. _Please… Be safe… and don't forget me_ … Wine red eyes fell shut as he strained to burn their remembered faces into the back of nonexistent lids.

But he knew that, however he might pray, _he_ would not remember. In time, the darkness would eat it all away again.

Everything.

His days in this life, and the last.

The joys and sorrows and struggles he had known.

The light and the smiles and the friends he had been blessed with.

Each one would fade back into the nothing, little by little… And he would not even know to miss them.

His only consolation was to imagine them _now_ , while he still could… The smiles of his friends… The face of his partner…

If he could only remember _that_ , he would trade every other memory to keep it…

Even the name, he had never learned.

* * *

"What the hell's happening?!" Jounouchi cried as the group came up short, still midair.

"This isn't right," Yuugi breathed, eyes darting anxiously across a sky torn apart.

Everything had been black clouds and gusts of wind moments again, but then a bright light had cracked up from only _just_ ahead, and then?

The clouds all disappeared, leaving clear night skies for one, brief moment…

And then the gold started raining down.

Gigantic, jagged stones of _gold_ ripped through the sky to land with an earthquake each upon the ravaged ground below.

They had ducked and evaded more than one in their rush to make it to his other self, but- _But_ -

Yuugi… He eyed another as it fell just to their left, only to dart his gaze sharply forward as he recognized a _design_ upon the side of the stone.

 _It couldn't be_ …

"Where could he be- Heck, where is _anybody_?!" Honda cried out, echoing a confusion that had struck them all earlier, when the broken army they had seen ahead disappeared in a literal blink- Just before the stones started to fall.

"Hell if I know, but if we just keep moving forward-"

"Look!" Anzu cried as she pointed forward- To the edge of one of many jagged cliffs.

It was no different than the others surrounding it, but it was the only one in sight that featured a _person_.

A, prone, collapsed, figure.

"- _mou hitori no boku_!" Yuugi called before he was even conscious of recognizing the purple cape and shock of hair. He just dove forward, thoughtless, alongside his friends.

"Hey man, are you alright?! What is going o-" Jounouchi asked as he reached him first, only to jerk back because- _because_ …

"-no…" Honda breathed, the sound swallowed up and drowned out by the scream that leaked out Anzu before she could fully cover her mouth with both hands, horror painted across her face- Across Jounouchi's, and Honda's.

Across, Yuugi's.

 _No…_ The word echoed in his own head as he floated closer than the other three dared, to stare with unbelieving eyes, begging the sight before him to change.

To, not be, what it was.

The pharaoh… collapsed on his back… blood dripping from his mouth, and golden pieces scattered across his body.

Not a sign of life in him.

"…we're too late…" Jounouchi breathed, the spirit still audibly dying out of him as Anzu sobbed behind him, Honda striving to hold her up as tears ran down his own face. "It, it can't be, right? This is just a _game_ , isn't it? And, and this is just what happened _before_ , not _now_ -"

The effort to deny was admirable, but Yuugi? He could not embrace it.

He knew.

He knew, what the falling gold meant.

This… This body- This _bloody corpse_ was, just an echo, of what was _really_ happening somewhere outside of that world.

A mirror to what had happened… To his other self…

Yuugi couldn't even feel his knees as he collapsed at the king's side. Couldn't feel his own tears as they slid down his face.

All he felt was empty… The spot where his other's soul had been, for so long- That he had fought so hard to fill again as he ran through the labyrinth, through this world… To get back to _him_ …

That emptiness threatened to swallow him whole.

And the only consolation to be found was… He might, might just yet, have a way to fill it…

"…Yuugi?" Jounouchi called as his friend bent forward and began picking the pieces up off of the body.

"-Yuugi-kun?" Anzu echoed in all but whispered, extricating herself from Honda's side to step up beside Jounouchi. "How, how can you touch that… No, moreover- W-what are you-"

"I have to solve it…" The words were nothing but a mumble, thoughtless and background to his efforts to gather the pieces together in his hands. "I have to-"

Distantly, he was afraid. Afraid they would try to stop him. That they would try to pry him away from the pieces, as they once had in a fire. That he would have to _fight_ them, as he had then. Ignore their pleas to escape- To focus on finding a way out. On living.

And it was only when all three joined him on their knees that he paused to look up- And found his friends striving to pick up the pieces with him.

Their hands went through them, just as they went through near everything in that world, but still- Anzu turned to catch his gaze, her own struck expression stubbornly set against the defeat.

"Bring him back to us, Yuugi-kun."

"Yeah," Honda breathed, as he crouched down on the other side of the bod… of the pharaoh. "We have something to tell him, don't we?"

 _Yes_ , Yuugi thought, dazedly turning his eyes back down to his hands, and what little he had built already. _We need to tell you, mou hitori no boku. We, found it. We found your name… But we need **you** to tell us what it means. So **please** , come back- Come back to me!_

Nothing met his calls, but it didn't matter. He just kept building, kept moving piece after piece with that thought looping around in his head- Until a _slam_ and a shaking of the earth disrupted his work.

"Dammit!" Jounouchi cried as Yuugi looked up to find a great golden piece _right over their heads_ , mere yards from smashing them!

"Yuugi!" Honda called, reaching out to try and tug the boy up and _run_ \- But no! Yuugi, he- He stared down at the pieces scattering from his hands, at the body of, of-

He couldn't leave him!

"Like _hell_ -!" Jounouchi cried as he pulled out his cards and summoned a great black dragon from the deck, sending it up to meet, slam against, and push the great piece off, so that it fell _away_ from them.

It hit the ground with a shudder that made Yuugi's teeth clatter, but he grit them shut and ignored it- Ignored the tears still streaming down his face as he made his hands hold the Puzzle steady.

There was no time, no- The world was collapsing around them, falling to pieces as the Puzzle had, and- And they would disappear _with it_ -

He could practically hear his other's protests to their refusal to run.

He chose to believe that he was hearing the real thing. That he was _doing it_ , solving it! That he would _get him back_ -

And then, before he was even _conscious_ of it-

"-you did it!" Anzu cried with a wild relief as the Puzzle became whole again, and the guys cried out in victory- And, and Yuugi…

He didn't even have to think about it. Putting the Puzzle back around the neck of the king came as naturally to him as pushing that last piece into place.

And it shouldn't have worked- By all rights, the body should have been dead.

That didn't stop those red eyes from slowly opening, though, or Yuugi from letting out a sob that drew their focus to _him_.

"… _aibou_ …"

" _Mou, hitori no-_ " Yuugi couldn't get the name fully out as he choked, but he leaned over the king with a smile that he _could not_ stifle. "You came back…"

His gaze- The pharaoh's eyes flicked somewhere between confusion and a deep, raw feeling Yuugi could not read. And he didn't try- He just took the hand offered to him and _clutched it_ as his other's eyes finally moved on, raked over the others behind them.

"E-everyone…"

"Yuugi!" Jounouchi cried as he beamed down at him, tears shining in his own eyes as he grinned. "Y-You had us damn _worried_!"

"Y-yeah," Honda echoed as he hiccupped on a breath, rubbing his nose on his sleeve as he, and Anzu, stepped up.

"Yuugi-kun, you- We thought we had lost you," the girl confessed with a watery smile so wide it must have hurt to hold it, but- But the words only made the king blink the confusion out of his eyes.

"I- How did I-"

"… _you_ …"

That one quiet word made all five jolt, that voice trailing down their backs like ice water as they dared to look up… And found the Spirit of the Ring there- _There_ , floating just above their heads.

His eyes full of hate as he held his own weak form aloft.

"You dared try to lock me away _again_?! Was three thousand years of sleep not _enough for you_?!"

"-wait, _what_?!" It was Jounouchi who cried out, but Yuugi stiffened the same way as his disbelieving gaze shifted back to his other self- The grim determination on his face doing nothing to reassure him.

"I would endure, a million years, if it would _stop you from getting loose_ ," the pharaoh claimed as he struggled to his feet- His heels catching and forcing Anzu to reach out and catch his arm.

"Stop! You- You're really wounded!"

"You should let us help you," Yuugi agreed, his voice stilling the king just as he was about to jerk out of Anzu's grip to stand by his own power. Instead, the pharaoh looked up, eyes questioning and still _not quite believing_ as he met Yuugi's gaze, so close to his as the boy squeezed the hand he had not yet relinquished. "We found your name- We reached the goal! We just need you to read it and tell us _what it is_ , and-"

" _I won't let you_."

The voice drew every eye back up to the spirit. He wasn't looking at _them_ , though, but the broken desert. The great Puzzle pieces were gone, and the point of its great base was back in the sky, but the world- The fissures were still growing in the ground. The people had not reappeared. It was all _still_ collapsing around them, too far gone to be saved after having its foundations so thoroughly rocked.

The world of memory was wasting away- And taking them with it.

"-I won't die here," the spirit breathed, and he looked down at his hands, anxiety in his eyes… But finally decision burnt them crisp, and he looked up at them with a scream. "I will take the risk, then! I did not want to take you with me, but _fine_! We are complete enough to break free, and I will _break out of this last true cage_ , and take all of you with me- Just to give you the honor of being crushed in my _true form_ \- Not in a memory, but in _reality_!"

"What does he-" Yuugi started to ask, only to flinch as a great black cloud erupted from the dark spirit's body.

He felt a hand squeezing his, an arm wrapping protectively about him from behind, and then-

* * *

Cars screeched to a stop, people screamed. All life screeched to a stop as everyone sought the source of the great _crash_ that range through Domino's streets… And found a nightmare standing in the ruins of the local museum.

" ** _Gah hahahah!_** " Zorc cried as he descended – and broke – the steps leading up to the building, raising his arms out towards the true, present, _real world_ before him! " ** _Yes- I should have done this from the beginning! I will draw on every last shadow from the hearts of the people of this city and then the nation, and then_ -**"

"Zorc!"

-the great beast turned back to the ruins that he had just left behind.

He- He had knocked in all that had been _left_ of the building when he erupted from it, purposely decimated every bit he could reach…

And so it must have been a joke of the gods that all five… No, all _six_ stood there alive and well before the ruins.

Mazaki Anzu and Honda Hiroto, positioned protectively in front.

Jounouchi Katsuya hovering towards the back, a weak, groggy Bakura Ryou leaning against his side.

-and the vessel, Mutou Yuugi, holding his other self- No, the _king_ up by the waist, so that _he_ could hold up a simple, silver cartouche.

"Your terrorizing ends here!"

* * *

"Oh _thank god_!" Mutou Yui cried as she tripped through her front door, only to see her son's profile there on the living room couch.

The boy didn't move, but her father-in-law Sugoroku jolted out of a nearby chair to look up at her with thrown, anxious eyes. "Ah, you- You're home-"

"Yes, I would have been back much, much sooner, but they closed the transits as soon as it all started!" she explained in a loud, almost yelling tone, tossing aside her purse and toeing out of her shoes so that she could enter the house properly. "I feared the worst the entire way home! Oh, _why didn't you answer your phone, Yuugi-kun_?! I was so worried about you- First I get held up outside of town by news that some _black monster_ attacked Domino, then tales pop up that it disappeared again when a _giant woman_ showed up- And when the trains finally started up again I rode by the area and saw there _really was something_ wrong at the museum- The same one _you went to visit today_ -"

"-Mama?"

…Yui stalled, just two steps into the house, and turned to look the other way- Down the hallway that led to the kitchen.

Yuugi was standing there, holding three water bottles… Blinking with something between shock and _fear_ in his eyes. "You ah, you made it back okay… Good…"

"…Yuugi-kun?" She didn't, quite register what she was seeing. She just, turned back to the living room, and saw that the boy sitting _there_ … As he finally turned to face her.

A dark-skinned boy, with the same hair, and the same nose, as _her_ boy… Wearing one of her son's familiar black shirts, and a pair of his too tight jeans.

He picked at one of the buckles over his thigh as he stared up at her- Wary, and far, _far_ too familiar. "Hi."

"…Mama? We can, explain-"

That was as far as Yuugi got before his mother started screaming.


	2. Chapter 2

**Title** : Reconfiguration  
 **Summary:** A few minutes delay is all it takes to change the course of lives, and Atem is not certain if he should thank the gods or curse them for this shift in his destiny. For what did it mean for his fate, this chance to know the world again in his own flesh? What good can come lingering so solidly in a world he is meant to leave? [Puzzleshipping, Canon Branch-Off]  
 **Rating:** **T** for Teen.  
 **Author:** Phoebe Delos  
 **Fandom:** Yu-Gi-Oh! DM  
 **Spoilers:** Pretty much the full series (manga edition).  
 **Disclaimer:** Yu-Gi-Oh! isn't mine. It is said, but true…  
 **Notes:** Turns out there was still a lot of MW plot to cover – I decided not to skim over it as much as originally planned. And that turned this into a bit of a monster, but hey- The boys had a lot to say to each other! So let me know what you think, and catch the TDWC reference if you can!

* * *

 **:: Chapter Two ::**

Yuugi let out an audible sigh as he stepped into his bedroom, closing his door to just-shy-of-shut.

"They're still going at it."

That is, his mother was still yelling downstairs, and his grandpa still hadn't given up on talking her down from a full blown panic.

Or at least, that was what Yuugi put together from the tone of their voices. He hadn't seen them, or heard what they had actually said. He just couldn't risk stepping downstairs long enough to get the details- He'd likely just get dragged into it himself.

It wasn't really necessary to hear, anyways. Yuugi could guess what they were saying- That his grandfather was trying to use what little _he_ knew to calm his mother. And it had become clear very quickly that that would never happen with the two of _them_ there, the targets of her confusion- So they had been banished upstairs by his grandpa to await a verdict on, what they were going to do about… _him_.

As he looked up, Yuugi saw the same anxiety he felt there in his other's eyes. The man leaned back in his desk chair, two tanned arms crossing tight across his chest. "I doubt he could explain it quickly, even if she were calm. It's a lot to take on faith," Atem observed, frowning at the wide expanse of carpet between them.

Yes… _Atem_.

That name, even said solely in Yuugi's own head, was enough to send his thoughts spiraling in sharp, dizzy directions.

Atem. The true, lost name of the pharaoh… of his other self.

It was the fruit for their struggles, the pharaoh's reward as much as their shared victory against Zorc. Somehow, the mere thought of it felt far more solid in Yuugi's hands than the Millennium Ring had earlier that day, when an all-too-willing Bakura handed it to him.

That had been _after_ \- After the demon disappeared and that golden goddess faded away, and they had been left behind to rush away and hide from the approaching crowds, police lights, and news vans. They had dodged them all, somehow, and no one had come knocking at their door yet to connect them to the incident… But they had still had their own shock to contend with as they stared at one another in a back alley, finally registering that _six_ of them stood there, not five.

The pharaoh had had no answers for how he had 'come to life'- Nothing beyond the vague notion that Zorc had somehow messed up. The demon had meant to free only _himself_ from that collapsing world, to solidify only _himself_ as real in this one, but his powers had been too erratic after being re-sealed in the Puzle. He had drawn all of them out along with him- And given the lost king flesh in the bargain.

 _How_ Zorc had managed, or why the pharaoh lingered where the demon was gone, he could not say.

In the end, though, it didn't really matter… It had happened.

The pharaoh was there, Zorc was gone, and they still needed to do something about the Ring.

That goddess had wiped Zorc from the physical realm, but he still existed. The pharaoh could feel the demon's heart beating within the Ring, and the Puzzle. And it would always be there, so long as the Items existed.

That was why it wasn't truly over yet…

The best Yuugi could do for now, though, was zip the Ring up with the Eye and Tauk and Rod in one of his duffel bags, and stuff them all in the farthest corner beneath his bed… Right beside the gold and folded linens the pharaoh had burst to life wearing.

That had been one of the first things they had seen to, when Yuugi and his friends made it back to the game shop…

It had all been a rush, a race to get things in some sort of order before they faced his family. Honda had taken a weary Bakura home, but Anzu and Jounouchi lingered long enough to stall his grandpa in the shop while Yuugi snuck the pharaoh upstairs, hid the Items, and worked out a rushed, haphazard game plan with the pharaoh.

They couldn't hide him, it would never work- They would have to talk to his family.

What should they say?

Not sure, but limited truth and no lies felt best, both practically and morally.

How could they prove it if they didn't believe them?

No- Zorc would probably make that unnecessary. If they believed the news, they'd probably believe them… And his grandpa knew _something_ already.

But what if his mom or grandpa didn't react well? What if they wouldn't accept him?

Not sure… But they would deal with that _if_ it was necessary.

Was there anything they could do, to reassure them?

It was going to be a shock no matter what they did.

How could they soften the blow, though?

Maybe, talk to one at a time – his grandpa first – and try to make a point to start from the beginning, _not_ what happened at the museum.

…and it would probably help if he wasn't dressed like he had stepped right out of one of those exhibits.

-that was how Yuugi ended up tearing through his dresser for pants, while the pharaoh struggled to remember how to remove three thousand year old earrings.

It had all been one long rush, any stillness along the way tense and awestruck- Every moment focused on what had happened, the next step, or what to say to friends or family or the police, if heaven forbid they showed up.

Even after they were banished to the bedroom, they had both been focused on what was going on downstairs- Frowned together at the same door and the same distant argument, shared the same irritation of being left out of such a crucial exchange.

And only then, after accepting there was nothing left to do… Nothing to do but _wait_ , did Yuugi turn to the man in his room… And look at him.

Really _look_ at him.

His other self, sitting there. Really there- _In the flesh_.

As alive as he was.

 _I still can't believe it myself_ , Yuugi acknowledged, if only in his head… Where only he _could_ hear it.

The stream of consciousness that had connected their hearts for the last two years remained dry, as it had been since the pharaoh first lifted the god cards before the tablet. Their victory and return had not healed that… And likely, nothing ever would.

Yuugi had felt their minds drawing apart for a long time now, after all, in tune with the rhythm of the pharaoh's reclaiming of his own identity- And now he was, truly, his own person. And the Puzzle? _It_ couldn't connect them, either. Yuugi wasn't even in possession of it anymore- It hung around _his_ neck now, just below Atem's crossed arms.

Right… _Atem_. He was a man with his own name, his own identity, his own _body_ as unbelievable as that was! And his own mind… Soundly unique, and separate from Yuugi's own.

Accepting that, and all it meant, might well have crushed him…

But when Atem looked up, and met his gaze?

That was still _his other self_ who looked back at him.

Yuugi smiled for him, and the uncertainty he read in those familiar eyes ebbed away as he finally broke the silence. "Right... You want to lie down while we wait? You have to be tired- We just got done explaining things to _Jii-chan_ when Mama came in, and before that there was getting home, and the fight… You carried those injuries over with you, after all."

"I will be fine. I will heal with some rest, but there is no rush," the once pharaoh insisted, the refusal to take it seriously painting a frown on Yuugi's face… Until his other shook his head slightly, and pinned a familiar toying smile on him. "And besides, I am not the one who didn't sleep most of the night last night because I was chasing thieves, remember?"

"…that _was_ last night, wasn't it?" Yuugi breathed, raising dazed eyes to his skylight, the left side still covered with fresh packing tape and plastic. "It feels like it was years ago already."

"Yes…" the pharaoh echoed as he turned his own attention upwards, and while he said little else? When Yuugi dragged his own gaze back down… He had to wonder if they _hadn't_ retained some shadow of their bond. For the pharaoh had spun the chair around to look up at the skylight so that his back was to him, his face turned away… And yet, Yuugi felt the weight hanging in his other's mind as soundly as though it were his own.

That silent, heavy hum… It broke the spell that had kept him still, hesitant near the door- And Yuugi finally closed the distance between them.

"I know we probably have bigger things to talk about than what Mama thinks," he mused as he moved his pillow and plopped down in its place at the head of the bed, where he could sit and lean over and rest his elbows on the side of his desk- Share the space with his other. Atem jerked out of his thoughts to watch him settle there with alert, curious eyes… And an expression that softened with understanding as Yuugi explained, "Zorc's still in the Ring after all, right? And until we can get rid of it for good… Is it going to be safe? I mean, it's disappeared and popped up in Bakura-kun's hands before, not that that's his fault."

"It should be fine, _aibou_ ," the man assured, leaning back a little further in his chair to graze dark red eyes over the edge of Yuugi's bed, and the hidden Items. "It's not like before. He's still there, but his spirit was shattered by Horakhty. If he recovers at all, it won't be anytime soon. He can't call out to anyone anymore, so as long as you and I are the only ones who know where the Ring is, no one will touch it."

He had understood half of that already, but still Yuugi nodded for the reassurance… Only for his wandering thoughts to race back into sharp focus when the pharaoh added- "And you're wrong… Your family is just as important right now as Zorc." The pharaoh slowly turned back to him, caught Yuugi's gaze and trapped it with the simple, quiet intensity of his. "I am sorry for this, _aibou_. I never thought that going to the museum and unlocking my memories would result in… _This_ ," he emphasized with a vague wave at himself, and the space between them. A gesture for what had become of him, and them, all at once. "And now this mess has invaded your home…"

Quite true- Their lives may not be in danger anymore, and the world may be just fine, but Yuugi had to admit- Neither of them had ever been quite so powerless as right then, waiting for a decision to accept or deny from his family.

That didn't stop Yuugi from shaking his head against the claim, saying "You know that's not how it works" and smiling when his other self raised his brows in question. "You're talking like you caused this, or like you've burdened me somehow- But don't you remember? You're the one who said it, there _are_ no burdens or duties between you and me. If you need help, I help you- Just like I know you'd help me." Like he had countless times before. Sure, they hadn't seen _this_ particular problem coming, but that didn't mean Yuugi would abandon or blame him now! No, Yuugi's grin was an easy one as he rested his chin in one hand and leaned further into the desk. "Whatever Mama decides to do, I'll stand by you… And I really think _Jii-chan_ will, too."

" _Aibou_ …" The gleam in his other's gaze was more touched than surprised- A distant relief to the former vessel. It showed how, however guilty he might feel now, he still understood that Yuugi was his partner, and that he wasn't alone.

It made it easier to touch on the elephant in the room as Yuugi looked closely at his other self, watched his expression as he said, "And I know, this has to be hard on you- You haven't really talked much, directly I mean, but I know you think of Mama as your family, too." There was a point where Atem had thought he _was_ Yuugi, after all, and those initial links of affection had never been limited to their friends alone.

His other self stiffened, his expression shifting through a various, unclear emotions before finally solidifying as discomfort. "That's true, but… I haven't thought of her as my own mother for a long time. We've known for a while that that isn't true, after all- And I know that I had kin of my own, now."

Yuugi blinked through that thought, quickly sitting upright as he stumbled into the recollection of- " _Right_ , now that we found your name and went through that world, you must remember your _own_ mother!" It was pretty obvious, once he thought about it, but actively considering it was jarring- And strangely exciting. Because, what had she been like? And, what had his _father_ been like? He had been a pharaoh, Yuugi knew that much, but what sort of king had he been? What sort of father? Had Atem had siblings, or been the only heir all along? Had he been lonely, or always surrounded by precious people that he trusted? Had he had friends to play with growing up, and turn to for support as he took his crown? Had he played games with them, had favorite ones? How had he spent his days, and what sort of life had he lived? What dreams had he had for himself, and for his people and country?

Yuugi was curious- Curious about his other self. Curious as he hadn't been since… Well, since that hospital roof months ago, when he first asked him who he was, and got nothing in return but uncertainty, mystery, and promises that he still treasured, but had long since resigned to impossibility. He had set that curiosity aside ever since, but his other- No, _Atem_ knew who he was now, didn't he? He could actually _answer_ him now!

… But… Atem's expression didn't lighten, and he didn't offer any answers. No, if anything, he grew somber- Not with some old pain or grief, like Yuugi might have expected, but a far more familiar emotion…

Discontent.

"-no, _aibou_. I do not."

Yuugi… Stared, not quite comprehending… Only managing a quiet "Huh?" when Atem continued to not lift his frown from the table. "W-what do you mean?"

Slowly, Atem raised his eyes- And met his with a sober flatness that made Yuugi's chest go tight. "I don't remember her- Don't remember much of anything, beyond the palace as I saw it in that world, and who I met in there, and the fights we had… And now my name, of course."

"But-" _That made no sense!_ Yuugi wanted to yell, but he couldn't get the words out. And he had to gather his wits before he could manage to ask, "Didn't we get your memories back? I mean, I thought that was what we were doing, taking the god cards there, and…"

He trailed off, letting the silence hang until Atem explained, "I don't know if it was because Bakura- _Zorc_ interrupted my efforts with his game, or because he threw us out of it again, or because I shattered the Puzzle again… But I never got them back. My memories. All I know, I know because that world showed it to me… I, don't think any of it went the way it was meant to," he confessed, his frown growing ever heavier on his face. "I never saw what became of Akhenaden after he betrayed us, or my priests, or friends. I know some of them died, but some of them just… Disappeared, with the world. And I have no idea if the game's version would have even been the truth of what happened back when I lived, and died."

Yuugi, opened his mouth… And slowly shut it again, dizzy with the shock of such a disappointment.

All of that… All they went through, all his other had fought to find in the last few months, and _now_ …

Whatever Atem saw in Yuugi's face when he looked up cracked through his somber stillness, painted his face with alarm until Yuugi mumbled "…I'm sorry."

The alarm hissed out of Atem slowly, and finally he shook his head, a soft smile on his lips as his gaze cradled Yuugi's. "I am not, _aibou_ … It's disappointing, yes, but earlier today I thought I had lost you and our friends, and that you were gone. That I would never see you again- That I would _forget_ you."

Yuugi sucked in a breath, tensing as he remembered… The king, bloody, dead, at his feet- Gold spread across his body and certainty in his own chest that his other was slipping away, disappearing-

The memory came and went in a flash as Atem shifted, made Yuugi blink back into focus to find him there, leaning his crossed arms against the desk- Their elbows _almost_ brushing as his other's eyes demanded his attention, that he notice the ease and gratitude in his smile. "I know it didn't go as we expected, but I hope you'll forgive me for saying I wouldn't have it any other way."

Yuugi couldn't speak around the ball in his throat, but he shook his head, his lips aching from a smile he didn't remember forming, now stretching his mouth wide. "No… I understand." When he remembered _that_ , and he thought about what _might_ have happened… "I'm grateful, too." There was so much balled up in his heart that he wanted to say, to express as regret and relief, but the best he could do was accept his other's true acceptance and mirror it back as joy. "We did it, after all, didn't we? We stopped Zorc, and found your name… _Atem_."

"Yes…" something shifted through the pharaoh's eyes at the name- At hearing his partner say it, that Yuugi did not understand. But his manner was still relaxed as he dropped his gaze down to their hands, both pairs resting on the desktop. He looked like he was trying to gather his thoughts, to say something… But the ease of tension between them, the sudden silence… The fact that Yuugi _felt_ it when Atem's breathed out a sigh? That it stirred the hairs on the back of his arm, and tickled his skin?

It all brought it right back into focus… He wasn't just sharing another of his countless talks with his other self, one of them ever half-air, half-real by the virtue of magic. He was… He was _there_ , sitting right beside him, a strange, living melding of intimately familiar and completely foreign features. The eyes, his face, the way he held himself and the way he matched him size-for-size, their toes both brushing the carpet at the same height… That was all a given. But, the tone of the skin on Atem's bare arms, thick with lean muscles he did not possess… The fact that Yuugi could not see _through_ that arm? The fact that he could hear his other _breathe_ , feel the warmth of his body leaning in close to his?

It all pulsed through his head with a reassuring constancy, and a rising insistence until he just- He couldn't _take it_. He didn't know what to do with the odd delight thrumming through him, but-

"But we should consider what we'll do next, if they do decide to-" Atem cut himself off as he belatedly noticed Yuugi shifting… And blinked in the face of fingers moving towards his face- _Touching_ his cheek.

Yuugi could hear his other suck in a breath as warm red eyes went wide- Wider than most would likely believe possible, but he ignored it, focused on catching skin between his fingers as Atem stumbled for words. " _Ai-aibou_ , what are you-"

The pharaoh flinched, pulled away.

Yuugi had pinched him.

Yuugi shared a few, baffled blinks with him, then broke out in a shy laugh as he finally registered his other staring at him, rubbing his cheek. "Sorry, I just- I couldn't quite believe you were real, you know?"

It didn't really make sense, and he knew it- And yet, Atem slowly nodded.

" _Aa_ , well… I suppose I can understand that. But if you wanted proof, you went about it the wrong way. Here-"

"Huh? _Hey_ -mfff!" Yuugi stopped scratching his nose just fast enough to _see it_ as Atem reached up and pinched _both_ of his cheeks. The pressure was light, and barely twisted, but still Yuugi cried out. He jerked away from those fingers – _rough, slightly calloused?_ – to fall back on his bed, elbows keeping him from hitting the mattress as he put up his hands in surrender. "Okay, okay, I give! I get it!"

And Atem- He laughed. Just a small, rolling chuckle that he barely opened his mouth for, but still the sound soothed something in Yuugi he hadn't been conscious out. It soothed him, and when he rolled upright again, he shared an easy smile with his other.

"As long as you do… I _am_ real, _aibou_."

"I know…" And he did- Always had, really, but he had just wanted the comfort of checking.

And he had to wonder if Atem knew that, given the fond edge to his smile. But Yuugi shook his head against the urge to ask, instead leaning his arms back against the desk. "Anyways, you remember what happened during the _game_ , right? I want to hear about that! I mean, we spent what felt like days trying to get into that palace to see you, and you had those battles- And you said that you were playing against the other Bakura the entire time, too? In the real world?"

"Right," Atem confirmed, and what was left of Yuugi's tension fell away as he saw no sign of distress in his other at the reminder. No, the pharaoh remained relaxed as he mirrored Yuugi's stance, reclaiming their former position before pinning his partner with one of those smirks that were his alone. "I could go over that, what happened in the game, and out of it… But only if you'll tell me about _you_ , and how you came to find me."

Yuugi grinned.

"Deal."

* * *

"So then you saw him out in the market?"

"Yup! It was a huge shock for all of us- You should ask the others about it later, too. None of us expected to see _Kaiba-kun_ in that place."

"No, I understand. That surprised me, too, when I first 'awoke' in the throne room. I never expected to find him, or Isis, or _Jii-chan_ there."

"What about me where?"

The two boys jerked upright at the new voice. Atem swerved around in the desk chair to see that, indeed, it was Yuugi's grandfather… And mother, in the doorway.

The former was grinning curiously at them both, but Yuugi's mom… She was frowning at them, and the anxiety Atem read in her eyes was honestly far more disturbing to him than anger ever would have been. It left him stiff, silent as his partner rose and slid out from between the bed and desk with a quiet " _J-Jii-chan_ , Mama, are you done talking?"

"Between us, yes," Yuugi's mother answered, uncertainty warring with displeasure across her features as Sugoroku gave humming nod.

"Yes, of course we might have some questions for you yet- But I think your mother understands as well as I do now what's been going on."

"'Believes it' you mean," she corrected, only to sigh as she rubbed at her brow. "But it's hard not to after what I just saw on the news- The channel logo was there and everything, and I saw the damage myself, so I know it wasn't a movie, but _still_ …"

"Yes, Mama, it happened…" Yuugi confirmed quietly, only to jerk back a step at the glower his mother shot him.

"Then what were you _doing there_?! If what _Otou-san_ said was true, you _knew_ you were walking into- Into _something_ like that, why did you do it on purpose?!"

Atem, couldn't deny it- Something long ingrained into his psyche in relation to Mutou Yui made him tense up in the face of her displeasure. But the moment she focused that look on his partner, he was on his feet before he was conscious of it, stepping forward to- Not to confront, but to take her attention by moving to Yuugi's side and saying, "It was on my behalf. If you are angry about us going ther-"

"I am well aware of that," Yui interrupted, indeed turning her frown on him… Though she stalled for a breath as though to assess him before saying, "And from what I have been told, you are the dead or, _not_ dead spirit of a _pharaoh_ that's thousands of years old, who came from the golden puzzle my son has worked to solve half of his life, and been wearing pretty much since he started high school… And you were _possessing_ him through it?"

Atem, just stared, mind racing to come up with _some_ sort of reply, if only a confirmation because _yes_ , that was true. But he could tell at single look that Yuugi would _not_ be fond of that, true or not. And when Yuugi tried to fill the silence for him with a quiet "Well, _yeah_ , that's basically it, but it wasn't pos-" Yui was quick to rush on.

"And as you say, Yuugi and his school friends were only there, in that collapsing building- And in apparently a number of _other_ dangerous situations lately, because of _you_?"

Atem, didn't really recall losing his breath. One moment Yui was saying that, the next he had no air in his lungs, and he was dizzy, and the slightly blurred face of the woman blurred more, a faint hint of concern just visible beneath her anger.

" _Mama_." Yuugi's voice was a safety wire jerking him back to firm ground, and Atem blinked back into proper focus to find his partner there, a step before _him_ now, his expression stern as he stared down his mother. "It is _not_ his fault. My friends and I went to the museum on our own, were never forced-"

"And did you think-" Yui cut in over Yuugi's defense and Atem's silent awe, forcing them both to look at her, and just listen as she demanded, "Did you ever think to _discuss_ taking these kinds of risks with your family, and the people who love you?!"

"Well I, uhm-" Yuugi struggled to speak, clearly taken aback by his mother's retort- And not so much the words, as the genuine distress clear in Yui's face.

"What did you think would have happened if you _hadn't_ made it home tonight?! Would I and your grandfather even know what had happened? Would I have had _anything_ to tell your father when he found out?!"

Yuugi, didn't answer… He just shut his mouth, and stared at the carpet between his feet and his mother's, jaw tense with shame and anger and things he dared not say.

And all Atem could do was look on, helpless to intervene… And wanting to. Wanting to defend his Yuugi's courage, and their friends', to explain all that they had done for him, and for so many others. Wanting to brush his mind against his partner's and reassure him with his own feelings, as he once could… And if he couldn't do that, then at least take his hand, and try expressing the same sentiments through touch.

He didn't do any of that, though.

There was only a beat to do anything at all, really, before Sugoroku stepped forward and quietly tried to calm Yui.

She didn't look any happier afterwards, but she did take a slow breath… And turn to Atem, in place of Yuugi.

It shouldn't have been such a relief.

"And you? What are you planning to do now?"

-it was more than obvious he wasn't welcome _there_. But the way Yuugi's head jerked up, and the desperate look on his face? It stalled Atem's impulse to speak of staying, or not.

Instead, he turned and pinned his attention on Yui, and said "I still need to make arrangements with certain people I would need help from. But, ultimately, I should be going to Egypt as soon as possible… And I don't expect I will be back."

He heard Yuugi suck in a breath, but he did not turn to look at him. He couldn't chance it- Not under Yui's gaze. Not while he could see some of the discontent fading out of her with this news. "Egypt?"

"Yes… I am sorry I can't tell you when. I, didn't expect to need plans, so suddenly."

"Yes," Yuugi cut in, prompting Atem to hesitantly dare a glance at him- But all he saw in his partner's expression was uncertainty, and a wariness of what his mother would think as he waved between himself and Atem. "We never expected him to, _not_ be linked to me, and we didn't even know if we would need to go to Egypt."

"We thought the museum might be the end of things," Atem agreed, though in truth he had always known, hadn't he, that it would all end in Egypt?

The possibility _had_ been there, though, that he would not need to physically venture there after getting his memories… Now, though, he had no proper memories. And the physical journey had only grown _more_ necessary.

He doubted it would help to be too specific with Yuugi's mother, though.

Thankfully for all involved, Sugoroku took that moment to step forward with a nod. "Yes, I'm sure this is all confusing, Yui-chan, but from what I gathered from our talk earlier, the boys are nearly as shocked by all of this as we are, and what's done is done. And I don't think the boys will be doing anything _else_ dangerous, correct?"

"No," Atem responded instantly, prompting a delayed echo from Yuugi with an added "Most of our problems came from that monster you saw on the news and, it's gone."

Or, near enough. But again- No point in being too specific.

And Yui, for her part, looked slowly between the two… And sighed, the very tone of that sound prompting a surprised release of tension from the two boys before her. "Fine… I don't like it, but if what _Otou-san_ told me is true, it sounds like we have you to thank for _saving_ Yuugi-kun's life as much as endangering it… And there is the fact that you saved _Otou-san_ before, too."

Atem, blinked, sharing an uncertain glance with his partner before both focused on a smiling Sugoroku.

Was, she talking about when Sugoroku dueled Kaiba, or when Pegasus stole his soul?

It didn't matter, the point was Yui had somehow gone in a few seconds from interrogating him, to frowning to herself as she mumbled, "I think we have an extra futon set in the downstairs closet, I could set it up in the living room, or maybe the game storage room-"

"Um-" All three turned to Yuugi, who was raising his hand as though he were in class. "I'd rather he stay up here." He, said it so simply, without any emphasis or edge, that Atem could only blink through the uncertain relief in his gut, and not say a word… At least until his partner added, "He's a guest, right? So he should take the bed, and I can take the futon."

 _Then_ Atem glowered. "You will _not_. I am not taking your bed from you, _aibou_. I can sleep-"

" _Aibou_?" Yui echoed, earning an instant snap-shut of Atem's mouth as he stared back at her. When no response was forthcoming, she quickly shook her head, already moving for the door. " _Fine_. I need to start dinner, so work it out between the two of you, Yuugi-kun. We all know you'll do as you please, anyways, no matter what we might think."

" _Mama_ …" Yuugi grumbled at her back, flinching around the guilt trip so aptly aimed at him.

Atem mumbled a quiet 'thank you' in her wake, but Sugoroku just laughed.

"Oho, I think you may have earned that one a little bit, my boy!"

Yuugi buried his face in one hand with a sputtery sound that made Atem's lips twitch… Until Sugoroku stepped up to _him_ , and stole his full attention. "As for me, I have just one thing to ask… Did you mean what you just said, about Egypt?"

-something in the room's air shifted from frayed and scattered to utterly still at that question, and Atem could only stare back into the suddenly serious eyes of the elder Mutou… Sharply aware of his partner there, watching them both.

He nodded. "Yes… I've known a long time that that is where my journey has been leading me. I will need to speak to some friends we have in Egypt, to figure out if this changes anything, but I doubt it." They still had to do something about the Items, after all, and… _He_ …

Sugoroku just kept staring at him, gaze intense but impossible to read… Until finally he nodded. "Very well… Then the one demand _I_ make on the two of you is, whenever you arrange it, I will be going to." He missed the shock on Atem's face as he turned to Yuugi, pinning him down just as soundly with a look. "Your mother is right about one thing- You shouldn't be going off and taking risks on your own. If you feel it is something you have to do, though, you keep your family informed, understand?"

"…yes, _Jii-chan_ ," Yuugi mumbled, soundly dazed in the face of his grandfather's demand- Until Sugoroku freed him again to focus on Atem with a sudden grin.

"Now then, one last thing. We got interrupted by Yui-chan before you could tell me downstairs- What am I to call you?"

"-Atem," he answered, the name coming to him before he even really thought about it- Followed by a surreal rush because he _had_ one to give. "My name is Atem."

Sugoroku nodded, and offered out a hand. "Then, it's good to finally properly meet you, Atem-kun."

It was silly, but he couldn't help the grin that broke out across his face as he took the man's hand in a firm clasp, and nodded. "Thank you, sir."

He tripped forward as Sugoroku pounded him on the back with a bark of laugh.

" _Haha_ , don't be silly! Like you haven't been calling me _Jii-chan_ this whole time- Don't you go backing out now just because you've been caught red handed!"

"-yes, sir," he coughed out, prompting another laugh from the man as he turned to go with a wave to Yuugi.

"I'll go unpack that futon- Yuugi! Make sure you and Atem-kun come down for dinner!"

…Yuugi didn't answer.

Atem didn't notice at first, as he struggled to catch his breath and right his feet… But it wasn't long before his gaze shot to his partner, and he noticed how still he was, staring at the door with a dazed, vague sort of expression that scratched at Atem's nerves until he finally had to ask. "- _aibou_? Are you alright?"

He reached out with a hesitant hand for the boy's arm… Only to jolt back as Yuugi suddenly turned and jumped at him.

- _!_

Arms caught him around the neck and back and he nearly lost his footing again as his cheek scratched against - _Yuugi's_?! – and the weight of a full body slammed into his chest.

The impact must has slammed his heart up into his throat, because his pulse went wild with the shock and-

" _I can't believe it!_ "

Atem, blinked against the yell that had rung out right into his ear, making him see stars as he mumbled, "…what?"

The boy he had never recovered enough to grasp stepped back, and suddenly he wasn't being hugged but grasped by both arms by a beaming, ecstatic Yuugi. "I just- I know she's mad, but Mama's letting you stay! And _Jii-chan's_ being cool and, I know we still have a lot to work out but _you can stay_ , as long as you're still here! We have to call the others! They'll want to know everything went okay, and- I just don't believe it!"

Atem stared back at him as Yuugi rushed through his happy spiel, his insides quickly warming with the words and the affection and the relief flowing through him… But his expression remained steady in its shock, and its seriousness… As he finally found his voice enough to say, "Well, if you can't believe it's real, I know how to fix that."

He reached up and pinched both of Yuugi's cheeks until the boy sputtered with laughter and slapped his hands off.


	3. Chapter 3

**Title** : Reconfiguration  
 **Summary:** A few minutes delay is all it takes to change the course of lives, and Atem is not certain if he should thank the gods or curse them for this shift in his destiny. For what did it mean for his fate, this chance to know the world again in his own flesh? What good can come lingering so solidly in a world he is meant to leave? [Puzzleshipping, Canon Branch-Off]  
 **Rating:** **T** for Teen.  
 **Author:** Phoebe Delos  
 **Fandom:** Yu-Gi-Oh! DM  
 **Spoilers:** Pretty much the full series (manga edition).  
 **Disclaimer:** Yu-Gi-Oh! isn't mine. It is said, but true…  
 **Notes:** -and I seem to have a reoccurring theme with Atem, Yuugi,  & food. xD Oops- Also there's some very specific nods to These Days We Celebrate in this chapter, but I think you're fine if you haven't read it… By the by, my followers- I actually _have_ been writing the last couple of weeks, but you'd only have seen it if you follow me on tumblr (ygospamproduction) or look me up on ao3! I've been taking little puzzleshipping tumblr prompts and compiling them together under Phoebe Delos at ao3, but FFNET just really isn't conducive for a bunch of tiny, short chapters- So if you'd like to check them out, head on over to tumblr or ao3! Oh, and I've started 'scheduling' when I write for certain stories, so if all things go smoothly, the next chapter should be out **June 4** , Yuugi's birthday!

* * *

 **:: Sunday, June 14 ::**

Yuugi groaned in useless protest as his alarm blared, finally reaching up to slap his hand over the top when it wouldn't listen to reason. It gave a loud _clang_ as the force of the hit toppled it over behind his headboard, but Yuugi just grumbled and turned over to smother himself face first in his pillow.

At least the thing wasn't still going off when it fell.

"…you'll fall back asleep if you stay like that, _aibou_."

"I know…" he mumbled, the words muffled by the pillow case… Any potential follow-up eclipsed by the wordless note that thrummed through his head as he realized with a start-

That voice _hadn't_ been in his head.

Yuugi jerked up, supporting himself on arm and elbow as he craned around to- To blink, at his other self.

He was just sitting there, at his desk, completely opaque and- And wearing the same clothes as yesterday, when they- …right.

 _Right_.

"Wh-what are yo-" Yuugi cut himself off with a yawn, sucking in the runaway air as he sat up. "-what are you doing up already?"

"I woke up awhile ago, so I just put away the futon and read while I waited for the alarm to go off," he- _Atem_ explained, lifting his book and tilting it so that Yuugi could see the cover.

It was familiar enough- The book was one of a few Yuugi bought a few weeks ago. But the sight of it _then_ blinked through his groggy confusion, and the teen's expression smoothed out, alert but somber as he registered what Atem had been reading.

 _...right_.

Yuugi pulled himself out of bed to come over and hover at his other's shoulder as Atem replaced the book on the desktop.

A study of the Egyptian Book of the Dead.

The open pages displayed a photograph of a painted wall on the right, and a description of its contents on the left. Yuugi skimmed over the passages as he asked "-can you read any of that now?" Sure, they had the author's interpretation available, but that wasn't the point.

Atem remained silent for some moments, combing over the content with his gaze… Then eventually gave a hesitant nod. "In a sense… Not with every photo, or even most of them. I couldn't tell you why the hieroglyphics even mean what they mean when I _do_ know, but sometimes I just… _know_ , what it's saying."

"Like, with Malik-kun's back? …I guess that makes sense- Even people who get amnesia can speak and read languages they knew before, right? It could be like that."

His answer was a simple nod and a suddenly tense expression, and the impulse to try and siphon the emotion from his other's guarded face came as naturally to Yuugi as breathing… He just didn't know _how_.

Atem must have sensed his staring, though- His gaze flicked up, and when they locked eyes he instantly smiled and leaned back in his chair- Away from the book, and towards him. "Anyways, you're up now, right?"

"Yup," Yuugi smiled, half-humoring his other's efforts to cheer himself, half-distracted by the way Atem's leaning brushed his hair against his own arm.

It tickled.

Yuugi scratched at the spot as he turned for the closet, opening it to fish out some clothes. "-and I'm sure Mama wants us downstairs for breakfast. We shouldn't eat too much, though. We're meeting everyone at Burger World for an early lunch."

"Right… You said Otogi's going to be there, too?"

"Uh-huh, Anzu-chan called him after she and Jounouchi-kun left yesterday. He already knows you're okay, but he's probably just as anxious as the others see you- To sit down and talk and hear about what our plans are."

"...for Egypt?" The slight squeak of the desk chair righting prompted Yuugi to turn, and he saw that Atem had straightened in his seat, confusion painted across his face. "But I already called Isis yesterday. She said she'd try and arrange the trip as soon as possible... But there's not much to discuss until she does."

"Well, yeah-" Yuugi matched Atem frown for baffled frown as he unbuttoned his pajama top. "But we should still explain that to them- And I didn't really mean _that_ , anyways. I was thinking more what you would be doing here, in the meantime."

"-in Domino?" Atem crossed his arms as he watched Yuugi change- Never reacting or commenting on the act as he kept his questioning gaze on his partner's face. "Didn't we cover that already, as well? As long as everyone is fine with it, I will stay here, in the house."

"Well _yeah_ , of course! But you can't come to school with me, but after exams next month, if… If you're still here-"

" _Ah_ , you were worried how I would pass my time while you and our friends are at school."

That was… _Part_ of it, yes.

But Yuugi still stalled at the way Atem phrased that, his pants on but both shirts still in hand as he stared- Not reacting as his other shot him a reassuring smile.

"Don't worry, I have enough games here to keep me busy through the New Year. And I can reread the books you bought for me- You spent most of your allowance on them, after all."

"I was interested in them, too-" Yuugi assured, eying the line of Egyptian history books on his desk until he pulled his usual black shirt over his head. "But I was thinking more what we should say when you go out. No one's going to bother us at Burger World, but eventually somebody in the shop or a duelist or one of Mama's friends is bound to ask who you are."

"Exactly, that's why I was focusing on the games and books- I can just stay here."

Yuugi, _stopped_ , fingers catching over the second-to-last button of his overshirt as he looked back up at his other.

And Atem stopped in his turn at whatever he saw in Yuugi's expression, a dismissing hand caught in the air mid-wave… And hanging there.

"-but, you said it could be weeks."

"…yes?"

Yuugi's stare continued to bore into him, as if seeking- No, _demanding_ some sign that Atem was joking… And when he finally accepted that that wasn't the case, he attacked the rest of his buttons with a vengeance.

"No."

Atem grimaced, turning to frown at the desk. "You said it yourself- There would be questions. If I go out, people will ask who I am and how I'm tied to the family, and when we don't answer-"

" _No_ , you can't just stay in here."

"It will be _fine_ , _aibou_. I have more than enough to keep me occupied-"

Yuugi interrupted him with the sharp slam of his closet door, instantly turning on a heel to close the distance between him and his other. Atem didn't lean away, but he tensed with the clear effort not to when Yuugi stopped in front of him- Only to plant two firm, anchoring hands on the pharaoh's shoulders.

Atem sucked in a breath at the touch, Yuugi didn't even acknowledge it- Just glared down into startled crimson eyes.

" _Mou hitori no boku_ , you are free to walk around and go where you like for the first time ever, without any need to worry about me or where I want to go or need to do… And you want to stay here? _No_ , you can't take this chance for granted. No matter how long you're going to be here, it's not going to be long enough."

He said it… He said it so matter-of-factly, anyone would think Yuugi gave the fact as much thought as the day's weather. But he felt his throat catch around the admittance. Subtly, and without any vocal hitch in his voice, but _still-_

And he swore he saw something vague and strained pass through Atem's eyes… But he didn't linger on it. Couldn't.

He had to focus.

Yuugi's expression softened as his tone went from firm to beseeching in the space of a breath. "You should go out, have fun. Explore the city, and see our friends. It's not everyday that you get the chance to talk to them without _me_ there, after all!"

Atem grimaced, the suggestion striking him as _unappetizing_ rather than intriguing, at least as far as Yuugi could tell. Before he could ask about it, though, his other dropped his gaze… And his eyes caught on Yuugi's clothes. A smile flickered at his lips. " _Aibou_ … Is that what you're going to wear?"

"Huh?" Yuugi looked down, releasing Atem's shoulders as he stepped back and pulled self-consciously at his shirt collar. "What's wrong with it?"

"It's your school uniform."

"So?"

Atem raised an amused gaze and the two stared at each other… Until finally the gears caught in Yuugi's head and his face flushed with comprehension.

Right.

 _Sunday_.

"-I forgot," he grumbled… Turning to his closet with a chorus of chuckles at his back.

When Atem didn't stop fast enough for Yuugi's liking, he turned and tossed a just-stripped school shirt at the laughing king.

It hit him square in the chest.

There was no force behind the hit, but Atem - and Yuugi -went instantly still and watched as the shirt fell and landed in his lap.

The result should have been a given, but there was still a dazed quality to the way Atem stared at the top.

And Yuugi just, smiled… A warm feeling rising up in his chest and tingling in his fingertips.

He turned back to the closet without another word.

* * *

"Whatever you say, you are _not_ staying in the house!"

" _Otou-san_ , there's no need to yell," Yui admonished lightly, setting a refilled tea cup before her father-in-law.

Sugoroku for his part had the decency to look abashed, but he gave the emotion only enough time to toss her a "Sorry, Yui-chan" before returning his frown to Atem- Making the 'younger' man freeze all over again. "But really, you were really planning to live like some shut-in for what might be the rest of the summer?"

"It makes the most sense. We won't have to dodge questions or make up lies if people don't see me." Atem kept his tone calm, unruffled, but he couldn't help the impulse to glance to his right as he spoke. Yuugi hadn't said anything since forcing the topic with a 'casual' mention of Atem's plans, and the uprooted king was ever wary that his partner might jump into the conversation with a surprise attack of his own.

Yuugi wasn't even looking at them, though. He was just nibbling away at his boiled fish… And eying Atem's out of the corner of his eye.

Did he want it? Or… Had Yuugi noticed that Atem had been avoiding the fish since his first, experimental bite? That wasn't good… If _Yuugi_ noticed, then his mother was sure to eventually, too.

"What, you think it's that hard to come up with a cover story? I put one together for you before I even went to bed last night!"

-all three instantly looked up to stare at Sugoroku, blinking at his smug grin until Yuugi finally broke the silence.

"You, did?"

"Of course!" The man took up his chopsticks and waffled down a good fourth of his rice… Dragging the moment out until curiosity turned to vague irritation, and he put them all out of their misery with the soft clatter of his bowl hitting the table. "We'll just say he's a visiting cousin!"

"A, cousin…" Yui echoed, squinting skeptically as Yuugi turned to mirror Atem's baffled stare right back at him.

"As in, _Otou-san_ has a brother or sister, and Atem is-"

"No no, not your _father_ ," Sugoroku protested, thumping himself on the chest as he emphasized. " _Me_! Renju grew up in this area, so no one in the know is going to believe that he had some sibling no one knew about until now- Not without making some very rude presumptions about me and my behaviour, at least."

" _Jii-chan_ -" Yuugi cried, covering his face as Atem just, grimaced- But the story went on despite them.

"-but _I_ didn't come from here! I didn't move into the area until you were about to be born, Yuugi, so who's to say that I don't have some brother kicking around somewhere I never mentioned, and that he has a family of his own?" Sugoroku waggled his brows at them, only to pause and scratch at his beard with a thoughtful look. "Even Renju might buy that, actually…"

"Your distance from Renju-san is not something to take advantage of," Yui admonished, shooting Sugoroku a _look_.

An old, stale stiffness popped up in the air, and Atem found what must be the sixth thousandth reason to be thankful for his partner as Yuugi quickly cut the tension. "But, Atem's supposed to be this brother's grandson? Isn't that a little too distant to believe?"

Yuugi turned to look at him, gaze sliding over his face and hair and- Yes. Even with the contrast of their arms resting right beside each other, Atem had to admit _second cousins_ was probably pushing it.

"Who's going to question it?" Sugoroku countered, though, shrugging as he reached for his tea- Only to hold it up without drinking it as he spoke. "It's not like people are going to be on the lookout for some magical truth. All we need is a basic, understandable explanation, and everyone will accept it. Like so-" Tea sloshed as Sugoroku rounded the table in astonishingly little time, only to make Atem tense and drop his chopsticks as a heavy arm fell on his shoulder. "Oh, have I never mentioned Atem-kun?!" The old man said in a loud, mock voice- Waving his tea cup in the stove's direction. "He's my brother Akio's precious grandson! He finally decided to get a look at life outside of Osaka, and came to help out his old uncle!" Leaning over into the space between the boys, Sugoroku mimed as if he were whispering to Yuugi- A move made all the more ridiculous when Yuugi leaned away from the hand. "Looks mysterious, huh? Gets that from his mother. _Foreign_ , you know- But she makes the best fried chicken you could ask for."

"…if that was another jab at my dinner last night-" Yui cut in warningly, earning a bark of laughter from the man. The volume right in his ear made Atem flinch, and when Sugoroku finally released him he wilted back in his chair.

A hand patted at his arm in a sympathetic manner, sending a soft ease through his chest and granting Atem the energy to _at least_ look up and give his partner a grateful smile… Until Yuugi broke their gaze to face his retreating grandfather.

"But, Atem doesn't sound like he's from Osaka."

"His mother's influence," Sugoroku dismissed, sitting back down to his breakfast. "She grew up somewhere else in Japan- Kyoto, maybe."

"And what about school?" Yui jumped in, frowning from Atem to her father-in-law with clear disapproval. "Why would any normal boy be on a family visit in the middle of the term?"

"Dropped out to focus on the family business." Yuugi's mother looked like she had just swallowed a fly, but Atem couldn't focus on her when Sugoroku was using a chopstick to point at him. "We can just say that you, Atem-kun, decided to drop out of your last year of high school so that you could focus on taking over your family's shop when you turn twenty. Prioritizing hands-on experience over textbook learning and college exams and all of that- You wouldn't be the first to do it, by any means."

"No…" Atem agreed, waiting until the man lowered his chopstick to ask, "And how did that bring me to you, and Domino?"

"…is that not obvious? _Apprenticeship_! You came to learn the ropes here at Kame Game! To give you a look at how other shops are run!" Sugoroku shook his head, clearly baffled that Atem couldn't put that together on his own… Only to belatedly soften as he waved at the space between them. "Oh, and to visit me and Yuugi, of course."

"Right… And my… 'family' shop. Is it a game shop, too?"

Sugoroku- Paused mid-chew, and stared at him.

It was at least ten seconds before they all switched from curious to exasperated.

"This whole convoluted story, and that is the one thing you forget to think up?" Yui sighed. "What if someone asks what the store is? What it's called?"

"Well-" Sugoroku started, clearly trying to think as he talked- Only to get instantly cut off.

"Textiles."

Atem, Yui, and Sugoroku, all turned at once to Yuugi.

Who just shrugged at their baffled looks. "That sounds more believable than another game shop, right? There's hundreds of textile shops out there, and people won't likely ask much about it. Even if they do, we can claim it doesn't have a proper listed name, just 'Mutou Textiles' or something. And- I could buy that for you," he tacked on, facing Atem specifically with a sheepish edge to his grin.

Atem blinked… Slowly raising a brow. "-you picture me running a fabric and crafts shop?"

His answer was a playful nudge in the shoulder. Atem jerked and rubbed his arm- But he never tensed as he had with Sugoroku. "You know what I mean! You could sell that if you have to- Show off something that would convince people you know what you're doing. You're good with stuff like that."

"-I'm not sure managing a few good origami patterns makes a textile shop owner, _aibou_."

Yuugi shrugged, going back to his fish- Trying to hide a grin around the point of his chopsticks.

But Atem saw it.

Since he was watching.

"-and, you said your friends won't be able to bring you to Egypt until the end of the summer term?"

Atem blinked out of his daze to turn and see Yui looking at him, a neutral sort of regard on her face.

Beside him, Atem heard Yuugi go still.

"Yes, if not later. It made end up closer to the end of August. Isis isn't sure how easily she can get me a… Passport." His hands tensed into fists, even as they rested on his thighs. He was wary that Yui would make some comment about that. Atem had skirted around it as much as possible, but there was no denying that they were talking about identification forgery- It was the only option he had, after all.

But would Yui understand and consider that an acceptable excuse?

He wasn't sure… But when she spoke again, pouring herself some fresh tea- "That's fine, but if it is going to be that long, and this is the story all of you decide to go with, I expect you to help _Otou-san_ in the shop." She put down the teapot and set a severe stare on Atem. "Even without this cover story, a young man who decides to dodge school had better be working- Even if he _was_ once some ancient king."

The bafflement behind the jab was impossible to miss, but Atem stared through it.

That… _Wasn't_ the lecture he had been expecting.

And when the silence was finally broken, it was by Yuugi- Raising his hand slightly. "Um, does that school alternative work for me, too?"

Yuugi grimaced the moment his mother's ire turned on him, but Atem just raised a brow at his partner's profile.

Had he done that on purpose?

"You _would_ like that, wouldn't you?" Yui gave a long-suffering sigh, shaking her head as she turned back to her food. "Did you even finish your history readings this week, with all of your museum trips and your magic and demons and, copying yourself?"

"I _read_ \- I just, the school books aren't as good as the history books you loan us- _me_." Yuugi jolted out of his own argument to shoot Atem a side glance, but he could only stare back, eyes wide as he looked between the mother and son.

He didn't think it would help anything to explain to Yui that she had been unknowingly supporting the two's efforts to research Egypt, loaning them general history books after Yuugi's allowance ran out.

If she recognized that now, though, she didn't say so. If anything, Yuugi's argument seemed to soften her mood. The furrows on her brow smoothed as she sighed and picked up her chopsticks.

"Eat your breakfast. I know you are going out later, but I want you both to help me clean the living room this morning."

Atem & Yuugi's joint " _Hai_ " came out in perfect sync, making them stop and grin at each other as Yui stared and Sugoroku laughed.

Atem could chuckled to himself, but he was quickly distracted when he looked down to eat- And discovered his fish had been replaced with a half-eaten bowl of miso soup.

He blinked at it a moment, then slowly turned to stare at his partner, and _his_ food.

There were two plates in front of Yuugi. The first was cleaned off, but he was still eating a fish off of the second plate.

Atem's plate.

Yuugi doesn't say anything, or even look up at his open staring… But Atem couldn't help but smile as he picked up the miso.

* * *

"So you're a drop out, huh?" A hand reached over the back of the booth to pat Atem's shoulder. He grimaced under the unexpected weight, but accepted it without comment, turning around to face his friend and his reassuring grin. "It's alright man, I've been there. Just don't let the judgment get to you."

" _Jounouchi_ ," Anzu admonished, glowering at him until he leaned back with a snort, waving as if to say 'it was just a joke!' Anzu didn't acknowledge it, though, her expression morphing to relief as she focused on Atem. "So, the Mutous really accepted you? They'll let you stay while you're here?"

"Aa," Atem confirmed, turning with the others to listen as Yuugi added "It shocked us, too! Mama isn't exactly happy, but she's honestly been pretty okay about it all- She's jumped straight into giving him chores and bothering him about eating right and everything."

"Then she's a few steps ahead of me already," Otogi piped in from behind Atem and Yuugi. They, Jounouchi, Anzu, Honda, and Bakura had all gathered at Burger World for lunch, but there wasn't enough room for seven at one booth. So, Jounouchi and Otogi had shuffled into an adjacent one to lean over Atem and Yuugi's heads. The better to surround and focus on the two who were now quite actually _two_ , and not a joint unit.

Atem had to practically turn around in his seat to look at Otogi, but it was worth it to arch a brow at him as he asked, "What do you mean?"

"Well, I just- I mean _look at you_." And Otogi reached out and actually _poked_ him on the cheek.

The touch was light, but Atem still jerked back, nearly leaning out of the seat to level a stare on the man.

Otogi just grinned right back, though, crossing his arms over the seat back. "I knew you were your own thing all along, and heard what was said at Battle City, but it's still something else entirely to see you here, sitting side-by-side with Yuugi."

"Without a doubt," Honda agreed, prompting them all to turn and look at the teen sitting across from them in the booth. The brunette was focused on Atem though, an uncertain sort of curiosity in his eyes. "Isn't it weird, man, walking around on your own like this? I mean, having your own body and all, it must be a shock."

-even Yuugi turned to level a wondering look on him for _that_ question.

Atem hesitated, but only because of the expectant attention so suddenly turned on him. After a breath, he shook his head, settling his elbows back on the table. "There are some things, yes, but generally? No, nothing feels strange. It feels pretty much like it did when _aibou_ shared his body with me." He turned to meet said partner's eyes as he went on, smiling for the surprise he saw there. "It always felt natural when I did that. So, aside from my skin being a new color and not being able to… 'disappear' anymore, everything feels the same."

"That's good," Yuugi breathed, offering one of those smiles of his- The one stained with relief for a fear he never voiced to begin with. "I was afraid you'd feel out of place somehow."

Atem shook his head, listened to the relieved and acknowledging hums and comments around him… And stayed quiet.

Because in reality, that wasn't _quite_ the truth.

He _did_ feel at ease in that body - perhaps even more so than he should, given he was supposed to be _dead_ \- but there was _one_ thing that felt constantly, endlessly foreign to him in this new norm, that kept stealing his attention time and again, humming at the back of his mind.

Honda spoke up, they turned to face him, and Yuugi's elbow brushed his.

That hum _sang_.

Atem ignored it, listened to his friend.

"So, you can't go back to that maze anymore?"

"Why would he _want_ to?" Jounouchi cut in, glowering at Honda over Atem's head. "That place was freaking crazy!"

"That was Atem's _soul_ ," Anzu emphasized, making the blond clamp his mouth shut and shoot Atem an awkward look.

"-sorry, man."

"It's fine," Atem dismissed, turning back to the table at large. "We've decided I probably shouldn't try- Going into my soul room now would mean having to use the Puzzle, and the less we do that, the better."

"I'm kind of shocked you're even still wearing it," Bakura mused, eyes falling to the golden item hanging around Atem's neck. "Didn't you say that… _Zorc_ , was partly in the Puzzle, too?"

Atem- Found he had nothing to say. His mind went blank and when he skirted his gaze to his partner, he saw the same struck-blind shock in Yuugi's eyes.

No input from there, then, but…

"It…" Atem started, swallowing back the awareness of how thin his answer really was- Who he was saying it to. "It just feels strange, not to wear it."

Rather than looking troubled or disapproving, though, Bakura just _nodded_ with clear acceptance, breaking eye contact to drink his soda.

"…are, _you_ doing okay, Bakura-kun?" Yuugi edged into asking, only to blink with the rest of them as Bakura jerked out of whatever his private thoughts were to practically beam at them.

"Of course! Are you kidding? I'm walking around for the first time in years without any worry about the Ring! There were times I 'forgot' to worry about it, yes, because that spirit hid my memories from me… But that doesn't change the fact that it's really true now, right? That it's over?"

"Right," Atem nodded, relaxing as he more felt than saw Yuugi deflate with relief, and Jounouchi talked over his head.

"Yeah, and we were worried about you for a while there, Bakura- But we're happy for you! And now we can all hang out together worry free- Atem included!"

"Exactly, and on that-" Anzu cut in, a hesitance clear behind her smile as she asked, "Do you know how long you can stay… 'Atem-kun'?"

-he had been expecting the question, at some point or another. Honestly, he had been shocked it hadn't come up when they explained Sugoroku's plan to cover Atem's identity.

But it had happened, and so Atem simply said it, the truth coming a little easier with the repetition of the information.

And all the while Yuugi said nothing- Didn't even suck in a breath, as he had the night before.

When Atem chanced a glance at him amidst detailing his talk with Isis, he saw Yuugi was staring at his burger, a distant sort of air to his gaze.

But Atem had little room to ask about it when he finally got to the point - "It could be weeks, maybe longer" - and the table erupted.

With cheer.

"Are you kidding me?!" Jounouchi yelled right behind his head, making Atem jerk forward until his stomach hit the table.

"What-"

"You mean it? You aren't leaving immediately?" Anzu gasped, all but standing herself in her excitement.

"No way!" Honda cried before Atem could answer, _tears_ actually appearing in his eyes!

"So we get to see you a little while longer before you leave?" Bakura asked with a grin, just as Otogi leaned over to toss his own smile.

"That's great!"

"That's not _great_ , that's _awesome_!" Atem gagged as an arm came up around his neck, catching him in a headlock- But Jounouchi just went heedlessly on, unaware of his choking. "We thought we were going to lose you at that museum, and instead we get you for the rest of the summer?!"

"Maybe?!" Atem wheezed, distantly aware of another pair of hands trying to pry him free.

"Come on, Jounouchi-kun, let him breathe."

"Guh-" He was released to a laughing apology, and Atem covered his mouth with his wrist as he coughed. All the while, Yuugi continued to rub his back- his touch lingering there as Atem finally caught his breath.

"You can't blame us for being happy," Anzu defended gently, drawing all eyes to her and her smile. "We all knew you were your own person, after all, but we never had the chance before to talk to both of you at once. -and now we will get to build even more memories together!"

"-I suppose that's true," Atem allowed, working to keep his smile steady, even as he felt Yuugi's hand retreat. "Though I never minded just listening as _aibou_ and all of you talked."

"Yeah, but that's because _you_ could see _us_ ," Honda cut in, smirking as he leaned back in his seat with crossed arms. "And now you're just going to have to get used to the fact _we_ can talk to _you_ whenever we want, because we're definitely planning on taking advantage."

"Yes," Otogi agreed, shaking his head. "It's too bad you can't come to school with all of us, then we could hang out all of the time."

"-and, I wanted to talk to all of you about that."

Every head at the table turned to Yuugi.

Even Atem blinked at him curiously, but his partner just shook his head before sharing a smile with all of them. "I don't know why this happened, but we've been really, really, _really_ lucky. And since _mou hi_ \- _Atem_ , gets to stay with us longer than we thought, I thought we should all make a point to spend whatever time we have this summer, having as much fun as possible… together."

-it was such a given, really. But the quiet, warm sincerity behind the request struck them all, and as understanding smiles spread across the others' faces, Atem could only stare at that soft, determined face, chest aching in a way that _had_ to be more emotional than physical.

His body wasn't even a day old, after all, but _that_ sensation was sharply familiar.

 _Aibou_ -

"That sounds perfect, Yuugi-kun," Anzu agreed, voice fondly soft beneath the sharp cries of agreement from Honda and Otogi and Bakura, and a whooping " _Yeah_!" from Jounouchi.

"I'm with you, Yuugi! And with no time to lose, maybe we should just skip out of school this week and go on some trip?!"

"Would you be serious for once?!" Anzu huffed, but Atem just laughed and looked over his shoulder at the grinning blond.

"No, but thank you Jounouchi… Everyone." He turned back, smiling at all of them- His _friends_ each in turn, until his gaze fell once more on his partner.

He repeated the thanks once more, in his head, where no one but he could hear it…

But Yuugi smiled anyways.


	4. Chapter 4

**Title** : Reconfiguration  
 **Summary:** A few minutes delay is all it takes to change the course of lives, and Atem is not certain if he should thank the gods or curse them for this shift in his destiny. For what did it mean for his fate, this chance to know the world again in his own flesh? What good might come from this chance to linger so solidly in a world he was meant to leave? [Puzzleshipping, Canon Branch-Off]  
 **Rating:** **T** for Teen.  
 **Author:** Phoebe Delos  
 **Fandom:** Yu-Gi-Oh! DM  
 **Spoilers:** Pretty much the full series (manga edition).  
 **Disclaimer:** Yu-Gi-Oh! isn't mine. Neither are any of the games I mentioned in here.  
 **Notes:** A happy thank you to all of the reviewers, and a happy birthday to Mutou Yuugi! To celebrate we have a… Atem-focused chapter. Huh… irony, but I would like to think that Yuugi would actually appreciate that. :) A very merry June 4th to you, everyone. The next chapter should be out  June 25th.

* * *

 **:: Monday, June 15 ::**

"Found it."

"Ah!" Yuugi jolted up, and grimaced as his head met the underside of the family room table. He rubbed the resulting sore spot as he wormed his way free of the furniture and stood up. "Where in the world was it?"

"Under your bed. We must have kicked it or something while we were playing last night," Atem theorized, closing the distance between them as he offered up the rogue school book and eyed his partner's head. "Did that hurt?"

"No, just shocked me," Yuugi dismissed, too busy frowning at the textbook as he accepted it. "How could we have kicked it, though? I didn't even do the homework in this last night."

"Don't let your mother hear you say that," Atem teased, his light grin widening as Yuugi instinctively tensed and eyed the hallway. No one appeared, of course, and the pharaoh was free to chuckle and earn a grumble from his partner in peace. "Calm down, she's in the shop right now. And don't you remember? You used a school book last night as a 'clipboard' while you tracked your scores."

" _Riiiight_ ," Yuugi breathed as he stuffed the book into his bag, finally recalling.

Jounouchi had come home with them yesterday, after the Burger World meeting, and spent the evening at the house, talking and playing games and eating dinner with the family. His addition to the dinner party had proved pretty great, as he smoothed over any awkwardness among the still adjusting Mutous. But after they ate, Yuugi's best friend and other got into a heated little Tekken competition… that lasted three hours.

When Yuugi inevitably got restless watching them, he flopped back on his bed with a portable Mario game and a piece of notepaper, tracking his scores and times from each world as he beat them.

And when Jonouchi inevitably headed home for the night, and Yuugi had to take a bath? He passed the game and paper to Atem, and challenged him to beat every one.

The pharaoh only managed to get through half of them by the time Mama called for lights out.

Yuugi suspected he would have the rest done by the time he got back from school that day, and the thought was honestly a comfort.

That didn't stop him from voicing his concern, though, as he shrugged into his backpack and walked into the hall, Atem's footsteps echoing right behind him. "Are you going to be all right here in the house?"

"Of course."

"Because I'm not going to be back until like five, so-"

"So I'll keep myself busy until then," Atem interrupted, smiling as Yuugi used the excuse of putting on his boots to face him and linger in the entry way. "What are you so worried about?"

"I don't know… I just can't help but think something might happen."

"It's a few hours while you're at school, and I still have your memories in my head, _aibou_. I know not to put metal in the microwave, or make long distant calls on the phone, or walk in front of a car if I go out."

"Well, can you blame me for worrying? I've seen you phase through one before, you know. If you forgot you're _solid_ now…" Yuugi trailed off, grinning up at the man mid-bootstrapping to underline that he was joking.

Atem just sniffed, earning a proper snicker from Yuugi as he stood up…

And then they were just… standing there, staring at each other.

Because it was time to go.

And Yuugi realized he had no idea how to turn around and walk out of his own house.

 _I've never been apart from him_.

And… that wasn't technically true.

He hadn't even _known_ Atem until two years ago… One, if he meant it literally. But, Yuugi had had the Puzzle near him over half of his life, hadn't he? And, maybe he was only inventing it in retrospect, but he remembered being attached to it from the very beginning, as if he had known on some level that something precious was hidden inside of that gold.

And, yeah, if he focused on the last year alone, he _had_ been separated from Atem a number of times, the most recent example being less than _two days ago_.

But, he had never… Yuugi had never _purposely_ distanced himself from his other before.

Not so naturally.

And it wasn't coming naturally now, now that it was called for.

And he could swear he saw the same befuddled emotion _he_ felt there in Atem's eyes…

But then those crimsons cleared, and the pharaoh?

No, _his other_ smiled.

"I'll keep it in mind, and stay out of the street… I can't beat you tonight if I get distracted on the road and cause a problem, after all."

"Beat me?" Yuugi blinked, a frown disturbing his daze. "What do you mean?"

Atem shook his head, stuffing one hand into his pants pocket as he asked, "Were you not paying attention last night? Jounouchi and I said that the winner of that last match could play _you_ next, and I won. If we hadn't noticed the time, I would have demanded it right then and there."

Despite himself, Yuugi had to laugh. "And you didn't think to ask me before making that bet?"

"We were confident you would agree" was the airy response, and Yuugi gave a weak, secondary chuckle… and an oddly relieved grin.

"Well, I can't say you were wrong. But if that's the case, you'd better be prepared when I get back."

"Of course," Atem replied, shooting him a fiery smirk worthy of any gamer… that shifted into a simple, delighted smile as Yuugi lifted an expectant hand.

They high-fived, and Yuugi turned to go.

" _Ittekimasu_."

" _Itterasshai_!"

Yuugi's face split with a grin at that enthusiastic sendoff, but he didn't turn back.

He didn't need to.

And really, he _shouldn't_ need to.

However strange it might feel, walking away and closing the door on Atem without looking back, facing the day without his other self at his side, Yuugi knew he needed to get used to it.

It was going to be a much more common necessity before long, after all.

But for now, he could walk away with the assurance that Atem would be there waiting for him at the end of the day, the same as always.

And if he was going to be on his own _completely_ one day soon, then he needed handle _this_.

And he could.

He was strong.

He would manage.

* * *

He missed him.

Atem had been staring at the Magic Cylinder card for a good three minutes when he finally looked up from the center of the Duel Monster card explosion he had set off in the bedroom and admitted that thought to himself consciously.

He missed Yuugi.

It was _odd_ , he… recognized that in a sense it was quite natural, missing him, but Atem also just couldn't wrap his head around it.

He had spent years entertaining himself every day while Yuugi went to school, and usually all he had at his disposal were his own thoughts and the maze of his soul room. Now, he had every game and toy in Yuugi's room, a few dozen channels on the television, and the whole city at his beck and call.

But he had already beaten the rest of Yuugi's scores in that Mario game, skimmed through the television twice, gone for a walk around the neighborhood, eaten lunch at a sandwich shop, and come back to tear their deck apart in a desperate hunt for activity.

And it wasn't even one yet.

He knew, because he kept looking at the clock every five minutes, wondering why it wasn't five already.

 _I could go shopping_ , Atem proposed to himself… only to sigh and dismiss the thought as quickly as it occurred. He had been 'recognized' on the street twice already just going for a walk, Battle City being still fresh in everyone's mind, and he didn't want to repeat the experience again so soon.

Cleaning up the cards and the bedroom as a whole sounded more promising… but he had found that any activity that didn't occupy his mind just left it free to wander down strange paths. And it wasn't even to _logical_ places, like what happened back in the museum, or what might yet happen in Egypt, or why he had this body to clean with in the first place.

…

He wondered if Yuugi was having lunch yet…

…

Atem tossed Magic Cylinder onto the pile and rubbed a hand over his face.

What was _wrong_ with him?!

Sure, he was used to reaching out to his partner regularly, brushing his mind against his regularly in a subconscious check that Yuugi was alright, doing fine in class or happy with his friends, or… whatever. And he couldn't do that now. But, that was just an old habit borne from his earliest conscious days he never fully dropped. He didn't _need_ to do that anymore. He knew his partner could take care of himself. And he was _glad_ that was so! Proud that he could bet money any day that Yuugi could face any unpleasant surprises thrown his way on his own, and be fine!

Atem just, hadn't stopped sticking close to him, despite that.

And it was beginning to strike him that that might have been less for _Yuugi's_ sake than his own.

 _This separation might be as good for me as for him_ , he thought wryly, pinning a weary glare on the ceiling as he leaned back against the side of the bed.

They needed to be okay with being apart, after all.

He just… he hadn't imagined it would be so difficult.

It had to be that he wasn't used to being quite literally on his own, that was all.

No one around to reach out to, or hear his thoughts, or suddenly speak to him-

"Atem-kun!"

"Aa-" Atem jerked, and flinched as the back of his head managed to find the thin bar of the bed support. "Guh…"

"Did you not hear me calling? And, what did you do to Yuugi's room?!"

"Nothing," he grumbled, only to belatedly stiffen as he looked up and registered that it was his partner's _mother_ in the doorway, glowering down at the messy floor. "...can I help you with something?"

Mutou Yui tugged her gaze off of the myriad of cards to frown directly at him, making Atem instantly regret asking. "Yes, I wanted to know if you were planning on moping around the house all day, or if you are actually going to help in the shop."

"I'm not moping…" the pharaoh grumbled in the midst of her words, only to blink into a mentally mute shock as she finished, and- "The, shop?"

" _Yes_ , or did you forget that you promised you would help us out?"

Actually, he had just taken it for granted that she meant he should help when _Yuugi_ was there. He had assumed she would be too suspicious of him to trust him with the shop, and all of the money and games within, even with Sugoroku there. One bathroom break, and he could rob them all blind. And as a perfect stranger to her, wasn't that something to fear in Mutou Yui's eyes?

Apparently that didn't concern her, though. Or, didn't occur to her.

But it would probably just reflect badly on him if he explained his presumption, so he wisely said nothing… until Yui narrowed her eyes at him.

" _Well_?"

Then he wisely said nothing as he _got up_ and left the room.

* * *

"So, Yui-chan sent you to me, huh?" Sugoroku asked, folding his arms on the shop counter as he scrutinized the ancient teen standing stiffly before him.

"Yes. She said I should help out down here."

"...and you're going to work in that?"

Atem… looked down at his clothes.

He'd just been hanging out around the house for the day, so he had no jewelry on save the Puzzle, and his pants weren't too bad. _Jeans_ , but unwrinkled with no holes or tears to be seen… his shirt, though? It was Yuugi's… the black one with the frayed sleeves and his partner's name embossed in yellow on the front.

"That's not exactly going to help your cover story, 'Atem'-kun," Sugoroku pointed out, a grin badly hidden beneath his whiskers.

Atem shrugged, pressing nonchalance over his face as he hid his hands in his pockets. "I could go back upstairs and change-"

"Heh heh, no need. Here," Sugoroku reached behind him into a drawer, pulled out a crumpled ball of green cloth, and tossed it at him. "Wear Yuugi's old apron over it."

Atem caught the bundle just before it hit him in the face, and shook it out.

A cute little splayed out cartoon turtle stared back at him from the apron front.

…

He looked up at the shop owner.

Sugoroku quirked a brow at him, amused challenge shining in his eyes. "Yes?"

…Atem put on the apron.

When he was done, the Puzzle settled over the turtle's face and a tight little bow tied at his back, he looked back up with an expression of perfect dignity and arched a brow right back at the smiling old man. "Well?"

Sugoroku snorted, but thankfully did not laugh. He just reached opened a yellow cabinet door and pulled out a bottle and cloth. "Why don't we start with cleaning all of the shelves, and go from there?"

'From there' turned out to be a rundown of everything currently on display, an explanation of how a grotesque hand in a glass jar was actually a game, and a general tirade on _why_ it was so much better for a business to sell one-of-a-kind games over the latest board or card game fad.

All things Atem had heard before… not just from borrowed memories, but from over Yuugi's shoulder as his partner worked in the shop and his grandfather lectured him from the counter.

Yuugi would always look up at him when his grandfather started, and they would share a private smile and laugh.

"Um, excuse me?"

-?

Atem looked up from a display he was putting back together post-cleaning, a plastic puzzle box in hand to be put up, to find a young girl looking up at him, dark eyes hopeful behind gigantic specs.

"Um, are you… are you, Mutou Yuugi?"

 _Oh_.

Atem's gaze immediately ticked to his left, already expecting Sugoroku to jump in and intervene. He had done the same at least three times already, after all… popped up to laugh and correct people and introduce his 'great nephew' to the newest taken aback customer, never giving Atem a chance to get in a word edgewise.

But Sugoroku was at the cash register with a man, showing him some variant of a checkerboard.

And Atem quickly understood _why_ the older man had jumped in so much when he looked back down at the girl… and realized he couldn't find his tongue.

"Um…"

"Y-you _are_ , right? Papa said this is your family's shop."

"Well, _yes_ , but-"

"Oh my gosh, then it is you!" The girl suddenly burst out in an adorable, toothy grin sans two teeth, and grabbed his arm. "I saw you duel in Battle City and it was so _cool_ and I want a magician just like yours but Papa says that I just have to save up my allowance and hope I find one in a pack but I haven't yet but I _did_ find a Kuriboh just like yours and I-"

Atem had gone stiff at the first touch, his mind only slowly registering what was happening. Belatedly, thoughtlessly, he tugged his arm free from the girl, rubbing the spot and frowning as she stumbled for her feet and stopped talking. "I'm sorry, what?"

"Um…" The girl was back to her previous, shy self, lips tight and eyes crinkling with a tension that put even Atem on edge. But she finally managed to ask, "Could you… sign my Kuriboh card?"

"... _oh_." Atem's expression smoothed out in delayed shock, mind rushing to reset itself around the request. It was sweet, but… she wanted _Yuugi_ 's signature. And he just, he couldn't bring himself to do that. Forge his partner's name. He offered a weak smile, trying for the sort of look Sugoroku might give when he explained they were out of stock for something. "Sorry, I can't. You see-"

But the girl's expression collapsed in on itself before he could explain, and Atem's tongue stuck to his teeth as she looked down at her shoes. "Oh… right, of course. I'm sorry for bothering you."

He should have said something. Assured her that it wasn't her, that she had the wrong person, that _Yuugi_ would surely be happy to meet her and talk and sign anything.

But all he managed was a stumbling "Ah-" and she was gone, running out the door.

"Honoka-chan?!" the man at the counter called, his confusion quickly turning to anger as he looked between his retreating girl and the frozen, shamefaced teen. "What did you say to her?!"

"No, it wasn't-" But the man was gone, too, leaving his would-be purchase on the counter as he ran after 'Honoka'.

And Atem wasn't aware he was moving until Sugoroku called after him.

"No, Atem-kun. Let them go."

He turned to the man, must have looked aghast, because Sugoroku just shook his head with a heavy, tired look. "It's not our place to demand peace. If you've lost a customer, you just have to endure it and try better with the next one."

But he had _upset that one_! And it wasn't just a customer! It was a little girl that _he_ made cry!

But Atem said none of that. Just squeezed the puzzle he had never put down… and turned back to the shelf.

A hand pat his back a minute later, but he didn't look up.

* * *

A somber but calmer Atem stood behind the cash register an hour later, filling in for Sugoroku while he snuck into the house for a quick snack.

There was nothing left to do, with everything cleaned and restocked and the traffic slow, so Atem had taken to lazily solving a couple of the Rubic's Cubes on display on the countertop.

He was almost _pleased_ when someone set off the shop bell and interrupted the silence.

His grin died fast, however, when he saw the anger on the customer's face.

"What is this?!" The woman slammed a box down on the glass counter, the contents shuffling and rattling in protest at the impact. "I bought this game here last week, and it was _not_ what my son asked for!"

"…I'm sorry, ma'am. Did we send you the wrong product?" Atem apologized and asked, swallowing back the initial reaction that wanted to come out, reaching instead for the poise and tone he had seen Yuugi use with irate customers a dozen times over.

 _Try better with the next one_.

"Send? _No_ , I bought this here last week, from _you_! Don't you remember?" the lady snapped, only to belatedly catch herself and narrow her eyes on his face, apparently just catching on that she _wasn't_ talking to the same boy.

So Yuugi helped her last time… but Atem must have been inside the Puzzle at the time, because he did not recognize her.

That didn't stop the slight edge of irritation that sprang up his back as he thought about the woman yelling at his _partner_ instead.

"…I'm afraid I don't understand, then. Does the game not have all of its pieces, or is it defective in some way?"

"I don't know about that!" she snapped, pushing the game a little more across the counter, as if to force Atem to pick it up and accept it. "But it was not what I asked for! My son wanted _13 Death Drive_!"

Atem looked down at the game cover. "This is _13 Death Drive_."

" _No_ , the proper one! The, the one where… he said the characters kill each other for an inheritance. From an aunt."

" _Aa_ ," Atem breathed, his own expression smoothing, even if the woman's didn't. "That is _13 Dead End Drive_."

"Yes, that one! So you do know it!"

"Yes, but we don't carry that game here."

"Oh, is that why you pawned this other game off on me? So that you could get some money, rather than tell the truth?!"

Atem stiffened, expression emptying as he fought back his reaction.

 _Yuugi would never do that._

"If you asked for _13 Dead End Drive_ , not _13 Death Drive_ , then I apologize-"

"You should have known that was what I meant! That's the popular one, right?! Not this knock off!"

"It is not a knock off, ma'am. It is simply a different game."

"Well, it wasn't what I wanted! And you should have guessed that! Who would want this game?!"

"We thought you, apparently," Atem said before he could think to stifle the words, earning nothing for his slip but an affronted glare and more yelling.

"How dare you talk to me like that?!"

He knew on some level he should dial it back, apologize, or at least keep his mouth shut.

He glared right back, instead. "If you were so _set_ on which game you wanted, then you should have actually _checked_ what you were buying when-"

The game smacked him in the face.

He stumbled back and fell and the box exploded and pieces rained out over the glass top and floor, rolling way beneath counters and tables.

By the time he looked up, the woman was barging out of the store, the bell screaming over her head.

"What the… what happened?!" Yui demanded as she rushed into the shop a few seconds later, Sugoroku right on her heels with a napkin still tucked into his collar.

Atem, still on the floor behind the counter, slowly stood up… not looking at them as he bent over to pick up the box. "Nothing. I'll clean this up."

"But we heard-" What Yui heard, Atem didn't know. Sugoroku was mumbling something to her… but he didn't listen, or look up to watch them go.

He just kept cleaning up game pieces.

* * *

"Excuse me?"

Atem stiffened, and slowly, reluctantly looked up from the lower shelf he was stocking.

A girl was smiling at him.

Atem instantly looked to his right, catching Sugoroku's eye.

But the older man just watched them, leaning on the counter and grinning without comment.

He wasn't going to intervene.

Breathing frustration out through his nose, Atem propped up the last of the board games and stood, brushing off his knees. "Can I help you?"

"Er, yes." The girl - a teen with long dark locks pulled back in a ponytail and freckles splashed across her nose - turned to the door. Following her gaze, Atem saw two other girls in the same, unfamiliar school uniform standing outside of the shop door, grinning and laughing and giving a thumbs up to their friend. The open exchange made Atem frown suspiciously, but to her credit the girl seemed embarrassed by the display. She was blushing when she turned back to him. "I was wondering if you could show me a game!"

Atem blinked. "…which game?"

"Oh, uh…" She looked about them, brown eyes finally landing on the game Atem had just put up. She pointed to it. "That one."

Atem slowly followed her finger to the display. "Reversi?"

"Yes! Reversi."

Huh… Had she seen him putting it up a second ago? Was that why she approached him, and not Sugoroku? Atem didn't know, but he picked up the box and held it out for her. "You can open it up and look at it if you like, as long as you keep it in the shop. We like it when customers try out the game first, so don't worry."

"Oh," the girl mumbled, not taking the box. She just kept looking at _him_. "I was hoping… _you_ could show it to me? I mean, I've never played it before, and I always like learning new things with a person, rather than reading some boring instructions."

"I suppose I get that," Atem allowed, relaxing enough to offer an honest smile as he considered sharing new games with his partner, and how fun that always was.

His quiet cheer seemed to please the girl, too, as she smiled at him. "I'm Mayumi. What's your name?"

"Mutou Atem," he managed with only the slightest stumble, rushing off of the topic of names and identities by looking down at the game. "So, you'd like me to show you how to play this?"

"Yes! If you please."

"Alright, we have a game table over there. If you just call in your friends-"

"No!"

Atem jolted at the sudden outburst, instinctively tensing in fear that he had said something wrong again, and was about to end up with tears… or another board game in the face.

But no, the girl looked as taken aback as him, and she blushed and stared down at her shoes in clear shame. "Sorry, I mean… it's okay, you can just show me."

"You… aren't going to play with them?"

"I _will_ , I just… it'll be more fun if I get to show them myself, later!" she said, smiling as she rushed through the explanation.

Atem didn't get it. Wasn't it always more fun to share a new game _with_ friends, discover it for the first time together?

But, that _was_ just his opinion, wasn't it? And if that was what the customer wanted…

 _Try better with the next one_.

So, Atem said nothing. Just nodded as Mayumi waved away her friends, sharing some silent exchange with them through the door glass as he set up the game at the table.

As he did, he shot a baffled look at Sugoroku behind the girl's back.

But the old shopkeeper just shook his head, grinning like this was the most hilarious thing he had ever seen in his life.

Atem didn't see what was so funny about it, though.

* * *

"So, you want to be really careful if you set a piece adjacent to a corner, because if I put a piece here or here, I could claim that corner for myself and flip all of your wall pieces on these two sides, and claim them for my own."

"Wow, that's amazing!"

 _Bad_ would be the word he would use, but maybe Mayumi just meant his advice, which was nice of her.

Atem was walking her step by step through a game of Reversi, showing her how the game would start and run and how someone might try to win, and how to block it.

Mayumi didn't make many comments as he talked, but she seemed really impressed by everything he said, and very keen on the instructions he gave. They had been talking for quite a while already, and she was still listening as rapt as ever, chin resting on her hand as she leaned in close to follow the moves Atem pointed out.

He couldn't hazard a guess at how much of it she was picking up, or how well she might play herself, but he could at least dub her a mindful pupil.

"And if you move this piece here or here, that would leave you vulnerable to a wall move here. So if you avoid that-"

"Atem-kun?"

"Hmm?" Mayumi jumped with a startled flush at the outside voice, but Atem met Sugoroku's smile with calm curiosity. "What is it?"

"I hate to interrupt, but it's five minutes to five. You're off the clock, right?"

Five minutes to… _oh_!

Atem beamed as he realized what that meant, instantly pushing away from the table. "Right, thank you! Mayumi?"

"Huh? Y-yes?"

"Would you like me to pack up the Reversi game for you to take home?"

"Oh… yes! Of course!" she answered, a strange confusion staining her smile.

But Atem couldn't even focus on hazarding a guess why. He was too pleased to worry, now that five had finally come.

And he had just managed his first successful sales pitch!

A minute later and he was ringing up the game himself and passing it to her, his mind already rushing out of the room to the next face he expected to see that evening as he parroted off a quick "Thank you, please come again!"

"Er, yes… Atem-kun?"

Atem stalled just a step away from the register, turning back to face Mayumi and her nervous smile. "Yes?"

"Well… I was wondering if I could have your number?" she finally ventured, her tension seeming to fall away as she got out the words. "You know, so that we could… talk games again some time?"

" _Oh_ ," Atem said, relaxing as the confusion fled him at that belated explanation. "Of course, here."

"R-really? Thank you! I… wait." The girl's shaky surprise calmed into a flat stillness as she stared at the business card Atem handed her. "Is… this the game shop phone number?"

Atem nodded, smiling. "That's right. You can call anytime before six, and if I'm not here, then… Mayumi?" he asked, trailing off into tense uncertainty as he saw the look on the girl's face. "Is something wrong?"

She didn't say anything. Just stared at him, struck hurt barely smothered behind tense lips as they locked gazes… then she turned away.

"What-?" Atem started, but she was out the door before he could get even that single word out. The two girls he had seen earlier got up from a nearby bench to meet her, and ten seconds later one of them shot him a look of white fire through the glass, and wrapped an arm around Mayumi's shoulders and led her away.

"What…" Atem started again, turning to the only other person left in the shop.

Sugoroku was crouched down behind the glass counter, seemingly putting a game away. But even as Atem watched, the older man dropped the box, grasped the side of the counter, and began to shake.

He was laughing.

"... _what_?!"

* * *

"Sorry for barging in," Jounouchi apologized offhandedly as he pushed his bike up to the shop. "But if you two are going to play Tekken tonight, I _have_ to see who wins. My pride is on the line, after all! You can't _both_ be better than me! And if you win, I'll just have to beat you myself."

"You don't have to apologize for coming over!" Yuugi countered, grinning for the defense he didn't directly respond to. "You know we don't mind. Though, thanks for waiting up for me, so that we could go in together." He didn't have a bicycle of his own, after all, and Jounouchi probably would've been there a good ten minutes before him if he had actually ridden it.

"Eh, no problem. I just brought it to get to school on time this morning."

Yuugi grinned, failing to mention that he had been _late_ to class as Jounouchi eyed the side of the building.

"You think _Jii-chan_ will mind if I tie it up to the turtle sign?"

"Probably not," Yuugi guessed as his friend took out a bike lock, his own attention already turning to the side of the game shop, and the private door only the family used to get in. "Do you… mind if I go ahead inside?"

" _Nah_ , go for it, I know the way in! And say hi for me!"

Yuugi stalled at the door at that last demand, catching Jounouchi's eye and earning a teasing grin that made the shorter smile self-consciously as he finally walked into the house.

Jounouchi knew why he was anxious to go in, after all.

" _Tadaima_!" Yuugi called as soon as he was inside, eyes scanning the hallway as if someone might pop out of the wood itself to say hello. No one did, of course, and a strange disappointment struck him for a second… But he shook head and moved on, sat down and removed his boots. He was a little earlier than expected, after all, so it was no shock no one was there to greet him. He could go looking himself in a second… and that self-assurance alone was enough to help him find his smile again as he shrugged out of his backpack.

"... _aibou_."

Yuugi froze mid-hanging his bag on the wall at that name, mumbled just behind him. The vague, resting smile on his face awoke into a full grin as he put up the bag and turned his head. "Hey! How are y-"

He stumbled verbally and literally as a weight pressed itself against his back.

He blinked blindly at the wall, heart jumping up in his throat and running wild as his head failed to register…

Atem was… leaning against him?

"It… _mou hitori no boku_?"

"Hey, I just saw some girls running away from the shop. You think something hap- What the hell?"

The weight jerked back at Jounouchi's voice and entrance, and freed Yuugi to touch the back of his neck… where a warm breath had just been tickling the skin.

But when he turned to face his other, a large buzzing blank space in his head where a question should be, he discovered Atem… frowning at the floor between them.

One look and all of his startled confusion gave way to concern. "Atem? What is it?"

Crimson eyes shot up for a split second, flicked over him and Jounouchi, then fell back to the step as he stuffed his hands into his pockets, frown falling into a proper glower.

" _Girls_."

Yuugi and Jounouchi… stared at each other.

 _Huh?_

* * *

"Atem, she was obviously flirting with you," Yuugi prodded, a wry smile playing at his lips as he watched his other glower out of the corner of his eye, his main focus still on the game in front of them.

"I figured out that much, thank you."

"Did you? Or… did _Jii-chan_ explain it to you?"

"Same difference," Atem dismissed, only to flinch and lose his latest Tekken match as Jounouchi cried out from behind them on the bed.

"And it was _seriously_ the one with the ponytail?! Damn, Atem, _she was hot_!"

"I didn't notice," Atem grumbled, attention soundly set on squinting at the screen as he switched from Forest Law to Eddy Gordo, and prompted a new match.

Yuugi won the first round in five seconds with an uppercut from Panda.

"I think we need to start over," Yuugi suggested, putting down his controller and facing his other properly for the first time since they started the game and Atem began explaining the events of the day. "Maybe even put this off. You're distracted."

"That's no excuse," Atem mumbled, even as he leaned back against the bedside and shut his eyes… at least until Yuugi replied.

"Maybe not, but it is partly my fault."

Atem and Jounouchi stared at him.

" _How_ is it in any way your fault?"

"The woman, with her son's board game," he reminded them, shrugging as he focused on Atem. "I'm the one who gave her the game she didn't want. If I had questioned her more, I might have caught on to the problem before she bought it."

"But that woman was a bitch!" Jounouchi yelled, earning a shushing motion from Yuugi as he eyed his open door.

His mother didn't appear, though, and after a breath Atem turned back to him, insisting, "She _was_ unreasonable, _aibou_. That wasn't your fault… I just shouldn't have lost my temper with her."

Yuugi slowly turned back to him, mirroring the weak, sorry smile Atem offered him… reaching over without a thought to squeeze his knee. "Some people you just can't please, you know." It was a sorry comfort at best, but his other's expression still warmed with it, and they were left staring at each other a moment… until Yuugi let go with a quick pat, and moved to stand. "I'll get us some drinks. If you're still up to it, we'll start over from scratch when I get back."

"Right…" Atem mumbled, zoning out for a breath as Yuugi asked Jounouchi what he wanted.

He was being silly, and he knew it. Whatever happened that day, he should be enjoying his time with his partner and friend-

Then Jounouchi plopped down in Yuugi's spot, and took up his controller.

"He's going to be right back, Jounouchi."

"Eh, you're starting over anyways. What Yuugi doesn't know won't hurt him," Jounouchi countered, winking at Atem as he started up the next match… and reaching over to hit the START on Atem's own controller when he didn't do it himself.

And, well. Atem wasn't about to watch his character lose without at least _trying_.

And he thought he was doing pretty well, until Jounouchi spoke up.

"So, what's got you so upset, man?"

Atem eyed him for a breath, not deigning to give that question an answer at first… but the silence dragged on for a bit, and when he lost the latest round, he just said it. "I upset multiple customers. _Jii-chan_ probably isn't going to leave me in the shop alone again, or let me handle customers. And if he can't do that, I'm basically useless there."

"Come on, it was _your first day_ , what do you expect? And you're used to dishing it back to jerks, right? Not kissing their asses. Give yourself a break."

"I know how to work in the shop," Atem tried to counter, but Jounouchi just shook his head as they started the next round in the game.

"That's stuff like where games go and what the merch is and how the cash drawer works, not how you talk to people. Did you ever handle a customer yourself before today?"

Atem opened his mouth to reply… and shut it again, frowning.

And lost again.

"Geez, you are distracted today," Jounouchi observed, but Atem wasn't paying attention. He was too busy staring passed the screen, realizing that his friend had a point. It was one thing to see how Yuugi and Sugoroku talked to the customers, and to imitate that. But that wasn't the same as knowing how to interpret a customer's behavior, or swallow his own tongue when he wanted to say something…

He flinched as Jounouchi elbowed him, knocking him out of his daze.

"Come on, you used to run a country, right? Yeah, you don't remember how, but you managed to keep it together until a stupid thief barged in, so you must have handled it somehow. If you can run a dumb royal court, you can deal with a few starstruck fans and jerks in the shop, right?" Atem stared up at him, openly taken aback… until Jounouchi smirked, and added, "Or are you going to balk and give up after one day?"

 _That_ made the shorter man narrow his eyes and smirk right back. "What do you think?"

Jounouchi snorted, and they just grinned at each other… until a slight noise made them look up, and they realized.

Yuugi was in the doorway, three sodas balanced in hand and and a grin on his face, leaning _quite_ comfortably against the doorframe.

"Oh, don't mind me," he started, but Jounouchi quickly cut in as he rushed back up onto the bed.

" _Ah,_ shut up and give me my drink."

Yuugi snickered, tossing a soda over as Atem focused back on the back on the screen… calmly calling over his shoulder.

"Sit down, _aibou_ , so I can kick your ass."

He heard a choking sound that had to be Jounouchi spitting up his drink, but Yuugi just moved around him and sat down… remaining silent until Atem turned to face him.

"You think you can beat me now?" his partner taunted, a pleased smirk playing at his mouth but his eyes asking if he was okay.

Atem answered with a smile as warm as it was sly. "Try me."

Yuugi's grin just widened, and they stared at each other… until Jounouchi poked them both in the back of the head.

"Enough with the pre-show, you two. I came to see some action!"

Yuugi huffed, rubbing the spot their friend just poked as Atem shook his head and focused back on the screen.

"Patience is a virtue, Jounouchi."

"Screw that."

Atem snorted and hit START.


	5. Chapter 5

**Title** : Reconfiguration  
 **Summary:** A few minutes delay is all it takes to change the course of lives, and Atem is not certain if he should thank the gods or curse them for this shift in his destiny. For what did it mean for his fate, this chance to know the world again in his own flesh? What good might come from this chance to linger so solidly in a world he was meant to leave? [Puzzleshipping, Canon Branch-Off]  
 **Rating:** **T** for Teen.  
 **Author:** Phoebe Delos  
 **Fandom:** Yu-Gi-Oh! DM  
 **Spoilers:** Pretty much the full series (manga edition).  
 **Disclaimer:** Yu-Gi-Oh! isn't mine. Neither are any of the games I mentioned in here.  
 **Notes:** Chapter edited by the lovely KatNocta, who always keeps my commas under control, and helped me get this to you on time from a hotel room. Thank you! I actually had another scene planned for this chapter, but it just felt right to cut it off where I did. So, expect an update in about a week- And after that, the next full chapter will hopefully be out around July 23rd. A longer wait than usual, but if you check my writing schedule on my ygospamproduction tumblr blog, TDWC is getting MAJOR focus for the next few weeks. We need to wrap that up before Reconfiguration gets much farther! ... For reasons! GOOD reasons! Reasons I... can't share, but trust me when I say it's crucial! Anyways, thank you for reading/kudoing/commenting! I am the slowest on replying, but I see and love them all!

* * *

 **:: Thursday, June 18 ::**

"I can't believe you're wasting your first proper day off by getting up early to walk with me," Yuugi mused aloud with a smile, leaning awkwardly against the front door with his bag caught between his back and the glass as he watched his other self slide on his extra pair of boots.

"I don't consider that a waste," Atem countered mildly as he buckled one shoe, tapping the hard heel against the entrance tiles before moving on to his second foot. "But it's not a full day off. I have to be back in the shop by one, and if you won't take the money _Jii-chan_ keeps giving me for my shifts-"

"And I won't," Yuugi confirmed with misleading mildness, the gaze he paired with his light smile sparking recollection of a recent, hard-fought, and freshly buried argument. "It's _your_ money. You earned it, and you should spend it however you like."

"I remember," Atem sighed… only to look up and meet his partner's eye at the heavy silence that followed.

Yuugi didn't say a word, but he spoke well enough with the furrow of a brow and the stiff line of a lip.

His expression only lightened when Atem answered him with a soft look and a smile, freeing Yuugi to relax with the quiet assurance that they weren't going to start _that_ fight again.

No, Atem shook his head with a light chuckle, tugging his pant hem down over his boots and standing. "And I thought, if I'm going to spend it myself, I might as well do it at that card shop I found with Anzu before. And that's not far from your school, right?"

"No…" Yuugi allowed, surprise mixing with a wavery acceptance… that fell apart completely as he remembered one crucial fact. "But, most shops won't be open until after ten. You'll have to wait around for over an hour if you come with me now."

"…will I?" Atem stared at the door with a look he probably thought was _casual_ in its blankness, but Yuugi just arched his brow, watching in bemused silence as his other shook his head in apparent dismissal. "It doesn't matter, I'm already ready to go. I can just take a walk around the area until the shop opens."

"Uh-huh…" The pharaoh darted his gaze to Yuugi at the open amusement in his voice- only to look away again when he saw the knowing smile on his face. Yuugi couldn't _swear_ it if put on the spot, but he still _really_ , _really_ thought he saw a flush in those dark cheeks. Atem would probably crack and confess in a heartbeat, if he just pushed him… but instead, Yuugi sobered, eyes straining to not drop to the tiles as he said, "I miss them, too."

…Atem looked up, expression honestly shot blank this time as surprise swam in his eyes.

And Yuugi smiled through it as he repeated, "Our walks to school, and back? I miss them, too. I mean, I know I see you at home, but that was kind of 'our thing', you know?" The confused fog left his other's crimson eyes, leaving them steady and quiet as he stared at Yuugi… and Yuugi shrugged against his bag straps, his own features still with veiled tension. "Is… that okay?"

"Of course it is," Atem answered instantly, that easy smile popping back into place like Yuugi had struck a light switch somewhere by asking. "There's nothing wrong with that."

"Then, why were _you_ trying to cover it up?"

Atem… stared, consideration morphing into the cornered look of a deer in headlights.

Until Yuugi started to laugh, prompting a flustered glower from the former king.

"Haha, sorry… Come on, I'll have to run if we don't get going."

"Aa…" Atem mumbled, reluctantly smoothing his own ruffled feathers as his partner opened the door-

"Yuugi-kun, wait!" The pair turned around, watching with matching curiosity as Yui rushed into the hall, holding something. "You forgot your lunch!"

"What? I- _ah_!" Yuugi instinctively reached back for a side bag pocket and grimaced as, indeed, he felt no familiar sharp corner from his bento box bulging out. "Sorry, I wasn't thinking."

"Yes, yes, I'm just glad I caught you. Be more careful next time, or you'll be stuck spending your allowance at the vending machine," Yui sighed, handing Yuugi the wrapped box.

"Thanks." Yuugi shot his mom a contrite smile and turned instantly back to Atem.

"Ready to go?"

"Aa."

"Okay. Thanks, Mama!"

"R-right," Yui stuttered, too distracted to reply properly as she watched _both_ teens walk out the front door.

Lingering wariness of their resident stranger dictated she should call out, ask why Atem was going. But the two were busy talking to each other as they left the house, Yuugi holding the door until the other walked through.

"Speaking of food, you don't have to just wait around for the card shop to open. I think some of the stands in the train station near school are already open. Even if you don't go _before_ the card shop, you could grab an early lunch there."

"Right, I remember. There's a pastry shop you like there too, right?"

That answered that, then. Nothing odd about Atem going out too.

Yet, as the front door swung shut behind them, Yui put out a hand to stop it.

She stepped out onto the doorstep to watch them go.

Neither noticed her, too distracted by the chat that kept their steps slow.

"Atem, it's _your money_. I told you, _you_ should spend it."

"I will."

"And not on _me_."

"Didn't you say I should spend my money however I like?"

"Yes, on what _you_ like!"

"Fair enough. But, if you happen to like the same thing-"

" _Mou hitori no boku_."

"Or, if I just honestly want to spend my money on something to make you smile, just for the sake of it-"

Yuugi's steps faltered, only to pick up double time to catch up to the man who hadn't slowed a moment.

"That, it, you- _why would_ -"

Atem turned to face him, and though Yui couldn't make out their expressions? "That's quite an interesting face, _aibou_."

" _Would you not_ -"

The so-called reborn ghost of a pharaoh let out a laugh, deep and loose and remarkably carefree.

Yuugi said something in reply, but he hissed it, and they were finally too far away for Yui to hear.

She kept watching anyways, until they turned a corner some blocks down… then finally shut the door after sending a long, considering look in their wake.

* * *

" _Tadaima_ ," Atem called as he walked into the house, pocketing the extra key Yuugi had loaned him as he shut and locked the door.

"Is that you, Atem-kun?"

He, stalled… looking up in mild surprise as Yui walked out of the kitchen. He had only called out of an old, inherited habit, and he stumbled in the face of someone actually _answering_ , much less Yuugi's mother with her serious, expectant eyes. "Ah, yes."

"I expected you back a while ago. You're supposed to be in the shop in a few minutes."

"Sorry," he belatedly managed, not sure what else to say. Had Yui actually prepared him lunch or something, expecting him back sooner?

Before he could think to ask, her purple eyes dropped down to what he was holding. "Is that a cheesecake?"

"Oh, yes-" Atem looked down at the same bags, a smile lighting and sparking out on his face in the space of a second. He only had two bags in hand, since his new cards were already in his card holster. But while one bag held a copy of Wild Arms he had found on sale, the other? "I stopped by a pastry shop, and this is… Yuugi's favorite from there," he admitted, only to start out of the distraction of his confession to look up and frown at Yui. "How did you know it was cheesecake, though?"

"Because it's Yuugi's favorite from there."

Atem… blinked, unsure how to process that… only for the question to bounce right out of his head when Yui looked down at his feet.

"How are you in those boots?"

He followed her gaze, frowning. "What do you mean?"

"I mean are your feet hurting yet? Can you imagine walking around in those for another few hours?"

Atem opened his mouth, but no logical response came out as he failed to follow her line of questioning.

Yui apparently took it as a denial, as she gestured to the line of shoes behind him. "Put on some of Yuugi's extra sneakers. I won't have you hobbling home."

He shut his mouth with a grimace, fighting back the irritation his frustrated confusion tried to paint his features with. "What do you mean? I'm not going anywhere else today but the shop."

"Oh, yes you are," Yui drawled, untying her apron. "I already covered _Otou-san_ in the shop so that he could have an early lunch, and Thursdays tend to be slow, so he's agreed to loan you to me for the afternoon."

"Loan… me?" Atem echoed, staring at her in what had to be open shock.

And he swore he saw her smirk for a breath when she glanced his way mid-apron hanging.

"Yes, I need to take the train to the wholesale store, and it's a pain trying to bring back enough food on my own. You're going to come and help me carry it back, understand?"

"Yes…" he answered automatically, the fact that he _didn't_ understand painfully obvious in his voice and expression.

Yui gave a short "Good" despite that, and turned back to him, one hand on her hip as the other went under his nose, palm up. "Now, are you going to give me that cake so that I can store it in the kitchen while you put on those shoes?"

Atem didn't answer that time, but a single look up into her expectant eyes, and he realized 'no' was never an option.

He handed her the cake.

* * *

"No, that's no good. We need the full loaf," Yui ordered, waving away the bread being offered.

Atem returned the half-loaf to the shelf just behind them as he wondered just what exactly he was doing there.

He knew helping Yui carry the groceries had to be an excuse of some sort, since she had been taking care of the shopping herself every day of… well, _Yuugi's_ life. Atem couldn't remember Yuugi _ever_ coming to one of these huge supermarkets before. If he ever made a food run himself, it was always at the small convenience store just down the street for some forgotten soy sauce or after school treat or something.

This giant food chain was a whole other monster, with at least thirty options for every one product Atem was used to seeing. In a way, he was thankful Yui hadn't handed him a list or pointed him down an aisle and expected him to find anything.

Unfortunately, that meant he was just trailing behind her as she went about her business, saying nothing.

Just like on the street.

And the train.

They had been together for over an hour, and while they had both been obviously restless, all Yui had bothered to ask him was whether spaghetti napolitan was alright for dinner, and if he was allergic to anything.

And other than saying 'yes' and 'he wasn't sure', _he_ hadn't spoken either.

He just… he kept expecting Yui to _say_ something, explain why she had ordered him to shop with her when she had spent the last week barely speaking to him, outside of dinner table necessities and orders to work in Kame Game.

 _I suppose this isn't that different from that,_ he mused wryly to himself, getting nothing but a nod and a distracted wave to the shopping cart when he brought a full breadloaf to her.

Perhaps he was just expecting too much meaning from nothing.

As they passed another aisle, Yui spoke up.

"Ah, we shouldn't have taken so long picking out the meat. If we don't hurry we'll miss the train." She sighed, looking down into her basket. "We have to at least get the noodles for dinner tonight, but I suppose I can skip the coffee…"

"Where is it?"

"Hmm?" Yui shot a confused look at the teen standing beside her, but he just asked again.

"Where is the coffee?"

"Oh, just a couple aisles down that way, but-"

"I'll meet you at the cash register."

"Er, what?"

Atem didn't answer, though. Just wandered the direction Yui had pointed out, leaving her to cock her head at his back.

She hadn't even told him what to get.

He was already in line when she arrived.

"Here." He held up a large bag of ground beans, turning it so that she could see the front label before he dropped it into her basket.

Yui followed the movement with a baffled sort of frown. "You… got the Blue Mountain blend."

"Yes," Atem answered, only to drag his eyes off of the bodies in front of them to shoot her an uncertain look. "Is that the wrong one? I remembered the bag from the kitchen."

"Well, it… _Otou-san_ and I drink Toraja now."

" _Right_ ," he breathed, grimacing down at the coffee bag. "You stopped drinking that."

" _Yes_ ," Yui agreed, but her own stare was incredulous, and pinned on Atem. "It was too expensive, so we switched… _years_ ago."

"I forgot." Atem nodded, frowning as he moved to go. "I can still get the Toraja bag if I run back."

"No, Atem-kun," she called, stopping the young man just steps away. He turned back, and met her baffled stare for baffled stare. "That's not the point. Why would you remember seeing Blue Mountain in our kitchen if I haven't drunk it for years?"

Sure, it could have just been a coincidence if it were just the blend. But he _knew_ she had stopped drinking it! And rather than look confused or thrown, like her, Atem… his expression just darkened.

He stared down at his sneakers.

The silence hung so long that someone tapped her shoulder.

"Excuse me," the lady behind her sighed, looking awkwardly between them. "Are you going to move?"

Yui turned and realized that the queue had ended, and the cashier was looking at them expectantly. Logically, she should move forward and check out.

She stepped out of line, instead, right up to Atem.

" _Well_?" she said, crossing her arms in a stubborn, let's-have-it gesture.

Atem breathed out in a loud huff and looked up, expression flat. "I remembered it."

" _How_? I told you, that was years ago. What, were you… were you floating around us even before Yuugi put that puzzle together?"

"No…" he breathed, so quiet she could barely hear it.

"Then _what_?" she insisted, already wondering if she should have saved this for the train, or for when they got home. They would be late for certain at this rate, and… and was he about to say something that they should _not_ be saying out in public?

She feared so, and only more so when Atem eyed about them, as if fearing eavesdroppers, then looked back up at her.

"I remember because _ai_ … because Yuugi does."

Yui blinked. "He, told you?"

Atem sighed, shoving his hands into his pockets. "No, he didn't. He didn't have to because the memory is in his head… and I have his memories."

Yui opened her mouth to reply, got stuck… and then jerked back as she realized she _had_ heard that correctly. "You have his-? But Yuugi-kun hasn't forgotten anything!"

"No, he… I guess 'share' memories would be the better way to say it," Atem corrected, frowning at something beyond her as he went on. "And 'shared' would be more accurate, anyways. I don't share memories with him anymore. They split the moment he solved the Puzzle. After that, I just… watched…" His expression remained heavy, tense, but something about it wilted with that last word.

He looked downright despondent as he stared at nothing.

And Yui could only stare back… until someone spoke up.

"Excuse me, ma'am?" Yui turned to see the cashier look at them again. The line was completely gone, and the young lady seemed rather, unsure how to handle the pair in front of her. "Is there anything wrong?"

"No! No…" she repeated, looking between the silent teen beside her and the checkout counter before moving forward. "There's no problem. Come on, Atem-kun."

He followed without a word.

* * *

They were maybe ten seconds outside of the market when Yui spoke up again.

"Why don't you start from the beginning?" she suggested, eying the shorter teen over the top of one of her bags as they walked. "I don't understand all of this magic stuff, so you need to connect the dots for me. How could you have gotten Yuugi's memories if you weren't ever possessing him?" Yuugi had certainly made a point to underline that _that_ wasn't what had happened, after all.

Atem wasn't quick to reply, though, expression distracted as he walked with her the few blocks to the station… and they covered nearly one and a half before he finally answered. "Possessed isn't exactly wrong," he admitted, expecting and not reacting to the stumble in Yui's step as he went on. "But I didn't consider it that way at the time. I just thought of it as helping the other me and our friends, facing the people who tried to hurt them."

Yui recovered with that addendum, but the way he said that - _mou hitori no ore_ \- caught her attention. "I've heard Yuugi-kun call you that, too… Why do you do that? Why does _he_?"

Atem looked at her that time, a spark of thrown surprise in his red eyes before he calmed and faced forward again, shrugging with an oddly awkward expression on his face. "Old habit, I suppose. It's all we knew each other as in the beginning. I was just the other Yuugi who came with the Puzzle."

"Well yes, that must have been what Yuugi-kun thought at first. But you must have known better."

"I didn't," he countered, meeting surprised look with a steady side stare. "When I awoke, I knew nothing but what was in Yuugi's head, and that didn't tell me anything about who _I_ was. I thought the same thing he did, when he finally became aware of me… I thought I was another Yuugi, born from the magic of the Puzzle."

Yui… could only stare, her gaze ticking down to the named golden pyramid.

She had always thought the thing looked gauche.

"But, you… you realized differently eventually, right?"

"Yes, last fall," he confirmed, gaze ticking curiously toward Yui when even _that_ made her expression catch. "We ran into someone else with an Item, and he spoke of the 'intelligence' within them… that was the first hint that I existed before Yuugi solved the puzzle."

"But, when did you realize that you used to be a _king_?" she almost hissed, glancing over her shoulder to be sure that no one was hearing all of this. Everyone near them was walking by without any show of interest, though… even when she started and nearly dropped her bags at the answer.

"Ah, late April."

"What- _two months ago_?!"

"Nearly," he confirmed, eying her in now open confusion as she struggled to recover. "Why is that so shocking?"

"Well it… Yuugi-kun solved that Puzzle while he was a _first year_ , didn't he?" At a confirming nod, Yui struggled through a shuddering breath, shaking her head as she started walking again. "That means you were around nearly two years before you knew that!"

"A year-and-a-half," he corrected, frowning at her. "Why is that so hard to believe?"

"It's not _hard to believe_ , it's just… you spent that whole time thinking you were my son?"

Or rather, thinking he was _Yuugi_ … but still the wording fell oddly in her own ear.

And Atem stumbled to a complete stop, staring at her.

She didn't know what to think of that look… chances were, there was nothing but mute shock behind it. But still, it rang with unsaid reactions, and when Atem finally jerked out of his stare, her own throat was tight with the weight of it.

"I… don't know what to do with that," she said, when Atem did not deign to reply.

She knew what the answer would have been, anyways.

"You don't have to do anything," Atem insisted, turning and moving forward at a determined pace. "I was wrong, I know that now. And I know who I am now."

"Still," Yui insisted, her tones softening without any conscious effort. "That doesn't change the fact that you have an oddly intimate awareness of what my favorite coffees are." Atem's stiff mouth twitched with quiet humor… only to flatten again as Yui went on, adding, "And it doesn't change the fact that you're oddly close to my son."

The return of her gaze was slow, and reluctant.

And she could almost convince herself that she saw fear behind his guarded eyes.

"Is that a problem?"

"I said it was odd, not a problem," she insisted, giving him a narrowed look as if to say 'don't put words in my mouth'. "I don't understand it. I've never been mixed up in _magic_ business before, that's true, but when I see you two together, it's pretty hard to remember that you're some dead royal who Yuugi-kun met through that Puzzle and faced all of those dangerous _things_ with. You seem like you really are just this out-of-towner he's helping adjust to a new life here… except, you don't act like a stranger with him. You two are so comfortable with each other, it's like you've known each other your whole lives."

"Like I said, I do share many of his memories," he replied simply, shrugging as he faced the road. He had relaxed at some point during her speech, but there was still a guarded manner to his expression that made Yui frown.

"So, it's the shared memories then?" she asked, following up the question with a second when he nodded. "And you've always been this close? The whole time, since he first solved the Puzzle?" Had… Yuugi really had this really, really important person in his life this whole time that she hadn't even been aware of? She had accepted when she first learned of this pharaoh, and the demon, and all of it that she was far, far too unaware of what was going on in her son's life… but _this_ …

Atem had stalled again, though, his expression sliding through such shifts that it broke through even Yui's distracted thoughts.

"No," he finally said, staring with the most guarded look yet at the street before them. "We weren't. Like I said, he wasn't aware of me for a long while. At times, he was even afraid of me… and I didn't consider him _nearly_ as much as I should have. I just… I didn't see him."

And he clearly didn't mean that he was _unaware_ of him.

Rather than question that, though, Yui craned her head to try and meet his eye, barely watching where she was going in the process. "When did that change, then? Why?"

Given little choice, Atem met her eye… and quickly looked away again, clearly uncomfortable with the scrutiny. "He helped me, forgave me, and we just… talked."

" _Talked_ ," Yui repeated, brow arching with open skepticism.

But Atem just shrugged again, staring at the ground.

And, honestly? Yui might have left it at that. It was clear Atem was wary of sharing anything else, and she didn't sense any of the dark weight behind this silence, as she had with the matter of who he was and how his identity worked. And really, with _this_ she could at least try again with Yuugi himself. He _was_ the other half of this mystery, after all.

But, just as she had gotten used to the silence, and the station was coming into view?

"I don't mean to imply he wasn't important to me from the beginning," Atem spoke up, prompting Yui to pause her steps… just as he already had, a few feet behind her.

She looked to him, but he was looking at the ground… his expression oddly serene. "I thought of him as me at the start, but even then I had the sense to be grateful to him. He solved the Puzzle, after all. Released me, and connected me to the world and myself and our friends, but… until I truly looked at him, face-to-face, he was important to me because of _what_ he was to me, _mou hitori no ore_. But that, _changed_ ," he said, suddenly stumbling on the word. The furrow returned to his brow… but when he looked up, there was still a sheen in his gaze that kept Yui quietly riveted. "I learned to trust him there, on the island during Pegasus's tournament. But it really _was_ the talking that changed things. He invited me to spend time with him, without any need for it. And we talked and, I started leaving the Puzzle any chance I could get, to be with him."

Yui had no idea how to interpret _that_ in the literal sense, since Atem had apparently still been a spirit up until last Saturday.

But the meaning was clear enough in Atem's sudden smile, and… "It gave me a chance to see how _wonderful_ he truly is, and it… gave a meaning to my 'life' I hadn't known before, getting to see him smile from the outside, not just the inside. And he-" he stumbled, catching on some unknown word as he shot his gaze down the sidewalk, clearly struggling for how to say something at the tip of his tongue.

And Yui just, waited, caught on this explanation that was so shocking, and yet… so expected, in its way.

Atem finally looked up again, expression calmed into a quiet neutrality, but his voice echoing with a barely contained awe. "We're close because… _aibou_ is important to me, because… he's _Yuugi_."

Somewhere a car backfired, somebody yelled, and people moved around them in a steady stream in and out of the station, never stopping to consider the pair blocking their way.

And Yui remained distantly, yet sharply conscious of it all as she stared at the young man… this truly _young man_ who snapped at her father-in-law's customers, avoided all of her fish dishes, quietly haunted her house, and spoke of her son like he had hung the moon and the stars.

And while Atem looked oddly satisfied with himself, he still broke their gaze first, shifting on his feet as he looked beyond. "We should hurry if we're going to catch the next train."

"Right…" Yui mumbled, making no protest as Atem moved gingerly past her.

She followed without a word.

The train proved to be relatively uncrowded once they boarded. They were even able to sit down, even if they had to keep their groceries piled on their laps. The starts and stops at the station points jerked their bags mercilessly, but Yui endured with practiced ease, and her mind was free enough to consider the teen sitting beside her.

Atem was staring at the back of some suited businessman, but he kept skirting looks _almost_ in her direction, as if he didn't want to even _chance_ being caught looking at her.

He was clearly wondering if she would say something, though.

And she did, eventually, sighing as she fidgeting in her seat. "I knew it was a bad idea to leave my book behind. Here I thought I would be too busy talking to you, and now we have a seat and nothing to do." She met Atem's eye as he finally looked at her, his own expression bemused. "I usually read when I get caught on the train, you know."

"I know," he assured, voice languid with meaning. And when Yui snorted at the little reminder at his 'memories', he even dared the smallest of smiles. "What book was it?"

"Oh, just an old Yamasaki Toyoko book," she dismissed, only to shoot Atem a curious look as his eyes lit up in recognition.

" _Karei naru Ichizoku_?"

"No, _Fumō Chitai_ ," she corrected, even as she gaped at Atem in open surprise. "You know _Karei naru Ichizoku_?"

"Yes, you let _ai_ … Yuugi read it during his last school break, remember?"

"You can stop correcting yourself," she tossed out, even as she grimaced at his answer. "I was always unsure if I should have let him read that one. But, _you_ remember it?" she emphasized, turning her focus back on Atem. "That wasn't before Yuugi solved the Puzzle."

"We read it together," he replied, and Yui's expression smoothed out to match Atem's easy regard as she nodded.

"Right… did you like that book?"

"It was interesting, well-written… very sad, though," he mused, a heavy frown marring his face as he recalled the details. "I never liked that the father only felt guilty about his son's death _after_ he found out the truth and the letter."

"No one ever claimed the father was a good person. My reading group decided the point of the story was the tragedy of the son's circumstances," Yui countered, and the anger in Atem's expression ebbed away.

"Aa, I can see that…"

"… Would you like to read _Fumō Chitai_ , too?" she offered, shrugging when Atem blinked back at her in surprise. "It's no sequel, but it's the same offer. And I will be done with it in a few days, and you should have the time to borrow it, if you want it. You can't spend every day working in the shop, and I only need help on these grocery runs once every few weeks."

Something stuttered in Atem's eyes at her last point, but he didn't say anything about it, even when she stared at him expectantly. He stared back at her, the tension finally sliding out of his face as he nodded. "I'd like that… Thank you."

"My pleasure."


	6. Chapter 6

**Title** : Reconfiguration  
 **Summary:** A few minutes delay is all it takes to change the course of lives, and Atem is not certain if he should thank the gods or curse them for this shift in his destiny. For what did it mean for his fate, this chance to know the world again in his own flesh? What good might come from this chance to linger so solidly in a world he was meant to leave? [Puzzleshipping, Canon Branch-Off]  
 **Rating:** **T** for Teen.  
 **Author:** Phoebe Delos  
 **Fandom:** Yu-Gi-Oh! DM  
 **Spoilers:** Pretty much the full series (manga edition).  
 **Disclaimer:** Yu-Gi-Oh! isn't mine. Neither are any of the games I mentioned in here.  
 **Notes:** Here, have a short scene of a chapter! We still aren't going to have a full new chapter until July 23rd, but, heh… I really like this intermission. :)

* * *

 **:: Friday, June 19 ::**

He was in the desert.

There was nothing but sand beneath him and black skies above, crackling doom with every bolt of lightning.

And he could not fly… so he ran.

Every step threatened to swallow him whole, bury him alive and leave him for nothing, a forgotten victim to the shadows of that world.

But he could not fall. Could not die. He had to… _he had to_ … had to…

He had to find him!

And he did.

He found him, collapsed on the ground just as he remembered.

Blood at his mouth, gold everywhere.

Dead.

But this time there was no one there to cry with Yuugi as he collapsed to his knees.

And when he reached for the broken puzzle, the pieces dissolved and slipped between his fingers, nothing but _sand_ and-

He had to let him go.

 _No_ …

He had to let him go _._

 _No._

He _had to-_

 _No no nonononopleaseno not like this not now not ever just_ _ **please**_ _-_

He reached for that face, but it crumbled, too. Turned away and denied his fingers and returned to the sands. The sands of a kingdom long gone, but ever there. Ready to swallow up and claim back its king, lost so long ago.

The sands left Yuugi with nothing.

Nothing but blood and tears.

He cried, fell, but the sands refused to swallow him, too.

The lightning crashed around him.

Screamed.

Cried out to, him… cried out for-

" _Aibou_!"

He choked on a sob, dazed as he jerked and… and something kept him still.

Hands. Hands, holding him down by the arms.

He was on his back.

He opened his eyes, and everything was a dim, dark blur.

But he could still make out crimson eyes staring back him, shot with worry.

" _Aibou_ , wake up! You're-" Atem stuttered into silence as Yuugi twisted, twisted out of his grip only to sit up.

Reach out and tangle his arms around him, bury his face in his chest and _breathe_.

He was… Atem was there. _Right there_ , in his arms. Alive, and breathing, with a heart all his own.

A heart that beat a heady rhythm against Yuugi's ear as he shut his eyes and repeated all of those wondrous truths to himself, over and over again.

And that heartbeat was all he could hear as Atem went still… saying not a word as Yuugi clung to him.

He didn't need to speak, though. A few seconds' time was all it took for reality to right itself, and Yuugi's eyes shot open as he jerked back.

"I… Sorry, I-"

"There's nothing to be sorry for," Atem interrupted, the bewildered glaze clearing from his eyes as he read the horror on Yuugi's face. His hands went up, caught the pair hovering lost between them by the palms and squeezed them gently as he asked, "But, what's wrong? You're crying."

Yuugi blinked, his dazed focus on their linked hands turning on himself, and… he was. There were tears in his eyes, still flowing.

He pulled one hand free to run knuckles through the stain they left on his cheek. "I… It was just a dream, I don't know…"

But, he did.

He might still be too shaken to say it right, and his world was still soundly thrown off its axis, caught between the loss of his nightmare and that skin, warm between his fingers, but he knew… he remembered.

He knew the dream had bled into reality because it had been _too real_.

But as he sniffled, and fought back the tears? Atem didn't ask.

Not with words.

His gaze ticked across Yuugi's face, scrutinized every inch, every pore in a clear hunt for insight… but the question remained purely in his eyes.

He did not demand.

And that worry-lined consideration brought the truth bubbling up to Yuugi's tongue.

"It was, you know… what happened? Back at the museum? In the game board world?" he asked more than explained, stalling with each line to see if the question left Atem's gaze. If Yuugi would have to actually _say it_. "When… when it, collapsed?"

Finally, the pharaoh's expression cleared… and sombered with understanding.

"Oh."

Yuugi nodded.

Atem's gaze fogged the way it always did when he was considering something, and Yuugi waited… eyes dropping down to their laps in the quiet.

The pharaoh was sitting on the edge of Yuugi's bed, and the narrow space meant that he had settled close, his hip brushing Yuugi's thigh through the bed covers.

And their still joined hands were resting on _Atem's_ thigh.

Yuugi was sharply aware of that, there in the silence. The oddness of it… but he did not pull away.

Atem's grip was firm, constant, and reassuringly palpable in the wake of Yuugi's dreams.

So he clutched back, milking comfort from the fact nothing crumbled beneath his fingers.

"I'm sorry."

Yuugi blinked, looked back up.

Atem's expression was almost flat in its stillness.

It was a look Yuugi knew well, unclear as it was. It was the face his other always wore when he was stifling something within himself… or, more benignly, when he just didn't know how to process something.

But where there was always something inherently _defiant_ about that look when Atem wore it in the heat of battle, across the field from an opponent? There was… something oddly resigned about it, when he looked at _Yuugi_.

When it was just the two of them.

"I should have realized how hard it was for you. But you were _so strong_ the whole time I saw you there, in that world, and so composed when you explained the challenges I missed. I didn't consider… but I should have realized." Atem looked down at their laps just as Yuugi had a moment ago, expression still fogged over.

But Yuugi did not follow his gaze. He stared at his other's tilted brow, and shook his head. Squeezed his hand until Atem thought to look up and see his watery smile. "I _wanted_ you to see me as strong, so… don't be sorry about that. That's good. And, it's nothing that really, _really_ happened that gave me nightmares. Just the idea that we could have lost you."

Atem had started nodding his comprehension as Yuugi talked, but… his expression tensed at the last, and Yuugi?

His own words echoed back at him.

His throat tightened.

He… everything was too sharp, too quiet.

The impulse to excuse, laugh, and turn away was screaming in his ear.

"You know… _that_ way. With… Zorc, killing you…"

The words hummed with something far, far too close to a lie.

But Atem smiled for him, just slightly. "Of course, I understand."

And Yuugi nodded, breathed a little easier… unsure why a certain part of his chest refused to unclench.

"Sorry," he breathed again, his fingers pulsing over Atem's before sliding loose from their grip.

Atem watched the retreat with caught, unblinking eyes, before frowning up at him. "I told you, you don't have to apologize."

"Not for _that_ -" Yuugi corrected, gesturing between them with a jerky hand and embarrassed flush. "I mean, for waking you up in the first place. … Was I really that loud?"

"Oh… no, you weren't. You were just breathing oddly," Atem assured, shaking his head and smiling as he belatedly pulled back the hand Yuugi had abandoned to cross his arms. "And you didn't wake me up. I wasn't even sleeping." Yuugi stalled the nod he had been giving to look at his other self with a start, shooting him a surprised look until Atem's smile waned and he looked away, to the desk just beside them, and the Puzzle resting upon it. "I… had a bad dream, too."

… Of course.

"Right…" Yuugi looked down at the futon laid out just beside his bed, that confession the final piece of a puzzle that had been troubling him. "You've been having bad dreams a lot, haven't you?"

Atem didn't answer, but when Yuugi looked up he read the truth in the surprise on his other's face. That loose, open expression drew a smile out of Yuugi as he explained, "You've been awake before me almost everyday this week, dressed and ready to go before I'm even out of bed. And I can tell you've been tired, so it _can't_ be you just need less sleep than me… You're just wary to sleep, aren't you?"

"No… But it is hard to fall _back_ asleep after I wake up."

From a nightmare.

He didn't say that, but Yuugi could read it in the self-conscious tinge of the smile Atem shot him. "I should have known I couldn't hide it from you, though."

"To your credit, I didn't really get _why_ until just now," Yuugi defended him, matching his self-effacing grin for a moment… only to slowly relax into an uncertain stare. "Do you… want to talk about it?" It felt unfair somehow to ask, after trying to hide the substance of his _own_ dreams, but…

Atem shook his head, shooting him an openly lost look. "I'm not sure what I would even say… I just keep imagining what might have happened to my friends, and our friends, and _you_ , there in that world, the same as you… and thinking that, some of it might even have been true. Might have actually happened that way, the first time around."

"Right…" Yuugi breathed. Atem had said that, that he wasn't sure… he had watched friends he didn't remember but still cared for die around him, and never even learned the truth of it. What really happened that first time? Had the _real_ priests and priestess and others all died facing Zorc, thousands of years ago? Had some of them made it, but not others? Surely _someone_ had walked away to bury the king, gather the Puzzle, and establish that prophecy.

It was a mystery long buried in the sands, though… and Atem wiped the matter from Yuugi's mind as he went on, gaze falling back on the gold of the Puzzle as he said, "Everyone from that world is gone without a trace, at least as they were, and being here myself… 'alive' like this? It feels like I'm breaking some sort of rule. Like someone made a mistake."

He couldn't help it. Yuugi sucked in a breath so quick that Atem looked back at him, and he couldn't even react to the alarm on Atem's face as shock ran dark and rampant through his own head. " _Mou hitori no boku_ -"

"I don't mean that I wish I had disappeared, too," the pharaoh cut in, so quick and on the point that for one wild moment, Yuugi was certain Atem had read his mind.

But no, the pharaoh went on, the reassuring smile on his face quieting the pulse in Yuugi's ear. "Or, that I was still tied to the Puzzle. Just that… it feels like some god might pop up at any moment and say, I am right. That I'm not supposed to be like this. Then they'll erase this body and put me back inside the Puzzle… or, maybe that world." And Atem looked down at his own still unfamiliar hands, flexing and clenching the fingers with a frown more baffled than distressed. "Sometimes it just… feels too good to be true."

… Yuugi smiled.

It hurt in its way, smiling, but he couldn't help it.

He understood.

And even as the same fear beat in his chest, ran _much_ deeper than the nightmare Atem described?

He reached for him.

Atem blinked out of some daze that had caught him as Yuugi clutched both of his wrists… and jumped as Yuugi leaned in, hovered in his face so close he could have blown in Atem's eye and made him blink.

He knew how strange it was, but Yuugi _needed_ to look his other self clean in the eye, close enough that even the shadows of the room could not obstruct their gaze.

And lucky for him, however shocked he might be, Atem did not pull away.

"That's not going to happen," Yuugi assured, steel lining the warmth in his voice. "We won, and why ever you got this body, it's real. _This_ is real." He squeezed the thin wrists in his grip for emphasis, earning a mirroring clutch from hesitant fingers. "That can't just disappear again so easily. And if any gods pop up to try and take you back, they'll have to go through me first."

Practically nose-to-nose, Yuugi saw it firsthand as wonder sliced through the tender confusion in those rich red eyes… and dissolved that quiet emotion into something far, far steadier, and fond.

The hold on his own wrists turned firm as Atem smiled. "I don't doubt it… and I would pity any deity daft enough to try and make an enemy of _you_."

Yuugi sniffed, hearing _Atem_ of all people saying that. After all, they both knew _which_ of them had actually managed to summon gods and defeat demons… but still, a grin twitched at Yuugi's lips.

Because if the occasion called for it, he would certainly _try_ …

"Yeah well, I can't let anything happen to you…" he remarked, words trailing off… only for his tone to lighten suddenly as he teased. "Mama would be heartbroken if something happened to her shopping buddy."

Atem snorted, and Yuugi laughed, some tension the teen hadn't even been conscious of dissipating with the humor.

"I knew I shouldn't have told you about that."

"Told me? You barely mentioned it. If Mama hadn't gone on about how quiet and helpful you were, I wouldn't have even known."

"There just wasn't anything to tell," Atem protested… only for his glower to smooth out as he eyed Yuugi with hesitant surprise. "She thought I was helpful?"

Yuugi didn't answer. He just beamed until Atem shook his head, snorting with a wry smile for his own question.

"… There are probably better times for this than two o'clock in the morning."

"Probably," Yuugi agreed, only for his smile to somber as Atem moved to pull away. He tightened his grip, stalling the pharaoh before he could move so much as an inch. "Are you going to be alright, though? You said you couldn't sleep… I could stay up with you, if you like. Keep talking or, play a game or something."

The question in Atem's eyes instantly warmed at the offer, but he shook his head. "No, _aibou_ … I should be fine now. Talking to you was all I needed to relax."

The stubborn tightness within Yuugi finally unwound itself as he smiled, caught in his other's mirroring gaze… until Atem made his chest clench all over again.

The pharaoh leaned that tiny bit closer and tapped his brow against Yuugi's… only to pull away again in the same breath.

Yuugi instantly reached up to touch the spot, rubbed bewildered fingers over his brow as Atem released him and stood.

"We should go back to sleep. You have a test tomorrow, after all… _aibou_?"

Yuugi blinked and looked up, lowering his hand. "Huh?"

Atem tilted his head to the side, one sharp brow arching in question. "Sleep?"

" _Oh_ , right. Right," Yuugi shook his head, shooting his other self an apologetic grin as he straightened the blankets over his lap. "Sorry… though, I don't know why you're so worried about _my_ rest. You have just as much to do tomorrow."

"I'm just working in the shop," Atem protested as he flopped down on his futon, twisting around to fluff his pillow.

Yuugi snorted behind him. "Yeah, but _Jii-chan_ always gets weekly orders in on Fridays. You're going to be unboxing and setting up new displays for _hours_."

"The horror," Atem lamented in a flat, wry voice, shooting Yuugi a grin as he chuckled.

Neither spoke again for a moment as they lied back and wiggled into bed, settling in for the night.

For all purposes, it seemed the conversation had ended.

… But Atem spoke up as soon as everything went still.

"It's not so bad."

Yuugi rolled onto his side and watched the silhouette of Atem's head tilt in his direction. And even if he couldn't see his other's eyes, that far away in the dark, he could still feel them on him.

"Working in the shop… and everything… I don't mind it."

The comment was as simple as it was vague and random… and yet Yuugi smiled, understanding the substance, if not the specifics of what he meant.

Atem was happy.

"I'm glad."

And he couldn't see it, but he knew Atem smiled.

Yuugi reached back and pulled his pillow under his head, settling there on the edge of his bed… still facing Atem. "Good night, _mou hitori no boku_."

Atem rolled onto his side, facing _him_ , and went still. "Good night, _aibou_."

Yuugi's lips twitched, and he relaxed, fell silent… eyes still fixed on the shadow on the floor.

He watched it until sleep finally made him shut his eyes.


	7. Chapter 7

**Title** : Reconfiguration  
 **Summary:** A few minutes delay is all it takes to change the course of lives, and Atem is not certain if he should thank the gods or curse them for this shift in his destiny. For what did it mean for his fate, this chance to know the world again in his own flesh? What good might come from this chance to linger so solidly in a world he was meant to leave? [Puzzleshipping, Canon Branch-Off]  
 **Rating:** **T** for Teen.  
 **Author:** Phoebe Delos  
 **Fandom:** Yu-Gi-Oh! DM  
 **Spoilers:** Pretty much the full series (manga edition).  
 **Disclaimer:** Yu-Gi-Oh! isn't mine. Neither are any of the games I mentioned in here.  
 **Notes:** Well, we had the set up chapters, a shop chapter, a Yui chapter, and a Yuugi chapter… why not a friends chapter while we're at it? xD

* * *

 **:: Saturday, June 20 ::**

" _Hey_ , Atem!"

His head jerked up at the call and he turned to stare down the street, recognizing the voice in an instant.

That was… yes, that was Jounouchi running up the sidewalk.

Atem hiked his duffel bag a little higher up on his shoulder and pulled away from the wall of the electronics shop he had been hovering in front of for a good ten minutes or so, waiting for his partner to appear. They had set the place as a meeting spot that morning, before Yuugi left for school. Atem would have rather have met him _at_ school, but Yuugi had made a good argument against it, saying that he was worried a teacher would see him and get suspicious of his open truancy. A teen Atem's age should be in school, after all, and if the school got too nosy, it might lead to trouble.

So, Atem had agreed and waited there by that store, just a minute's walk from the gate.

But it wasn't _Yuugi_ coming towards him.

"Yo," Agem greeted, pulling one hand from his jean pocket to wave as Jounouchi sprinted up to him, nearly keeling over as he skidded to a stop. "What are you doing here?"

"Haha, what?" Jounouchi teased between pants, leaning over with his hands on his knees as he fought to catch his breath. "A guy can't say hello to a friend?"

"He can," Atem agreed, never dropping his knowing smirk. "But that doesn't explain why you knew I'd be here, or ran up like that."

Jounouchi gave a dismissive wave, finally righting himself. "Just excited, wanted to see if you were here yet," he explained, pointing behind him with a thumb and a grin. "The others are right behind me, then we can all go!"

 _Go?_

Atem followed his gesture with curious eyes, only to watch in half-wonder, half-expectation as three others rounded the street corner and rushed towards them.

"Hi, Atem-kun!" Bakura called from the front, his greeting quickly echoed by Honda and Otogi, who were rushing up beside him.

"Why'd you have to run up ahead?" Honda asked as soon as Atem answered them, shooting a glare at Jounouchi. "We were supposed to surprise him together!"

"Surprise?" Atem echoed, only for Jounouchi to drown out his casual curiosity.

"I surprised him just fine on my own! It's not my fault you guys can't keep up with me."

"Does that go for Anzu-chan and _Yuugi-kun_ , too?" Otogi prodded, smirking slightly as Jounouchi shut his mouth with a snap.

"Er…"

"What… is with… all of you?!" Anzu cried, suddenly there between a jolting Honda and Bakura, gasping for breath as she glared up at Jounouchi. "This… wasn't a _race_ , and you know you're taller and faster, so why did you rush ahead?! Yuugi-kun tripped at the corner trying to keep up with you!"

"It's fine, Anzu-chan," cut in a sixth voice, cutting through the frazzled tension among the group and stalling Atem's alarm before it could even spark. Yuugi slid into view, as breathless as the rest of them, color high in his cheek from the exertion as he looked between the lot of them with a sheepish smile. "It's my own fault for not watching my feet."

"Sorry, Yuugi…" Jounouchi grumbled anyway, curbing the protective ire still lingering in Anzu's frown and earning a happy grin from his best friend… until Yuugi turned his attention to _him_ , standing there across the little crowd.

His grin shifted into a bright beam under Atem's intrigued eye.

" _Mou hitori no boku_ , you made it!"

"Of course, you asked me to come," Atem answered, his own breath-easy cheer in the presence of his partner layered beneath an open curiosity of the group around them. "Though you didn't tell me we were _all_ going to meet here… And what's this I hear about a 'surprise'?"

His benign suspicion only grew as Jounouchi snickered, and Anzu and Honda and everyone else eyed one another without a word. They were up to something, that much was obvious… and if a single person was behind whatever it was, Atem had a good idea who to turn to.

He shifted his gaze back to Yuugi… but he just grinned at him, warm plum eyes quietly laughing.

"Did you bring the clothes I asked for?" Yuugi asked, wiping the scrutiny from Atem's gaze as he turned his focus down, onto the duffel at his side.

"Yes, I think I got it all." He shrugged the strap off of his shoulder as he stepped forward, offering the bag to his partner. "Pajamas, travel futon, and two sets of clothes, including an old pair of jeans and a t-shirt." He turned an uncertain eye Honda's way, looking at him over Yuugi's shoulder. "I had assumed _aibou_ was staying at your place tonight." It wasn't something he got to do often, but Yuugi had gone over to Honda's a good dozen times or so in the last couple of years, when weekends were quiet enough, homework was light, and he wasn't working in the shop or going to museums or tournaments for Atem's sake. Jounouchi was always a third on the trips, but sometimes Bakura or Otogi would tag along, too. Now and then Anzu would even join them for the evening, though she usually avoided the place since Honda's sister lived at home and Johji would toddle around after her, demanding all of her attention if she were there.

And yeah, Atem couldn't join them since he had to work in the game shop, but he was happy to meet Yuugi and bring him his clothes. Honda's house was the opposite way from school, after all, and it was always a pain for Yuugi to have to come all the way home for his stuff, and double back to Honda's. It was just practical to ask Atem to bring the clothes halfway, so Yuugi wouldn't have to cram them in his shoe locker all day.

But Honda was shaking his head, a rather satisfied grin on his face. "Close, man, but no cigar."

"Right," Yuugi agreed… and reached up to push the bag _back_ into Atem's arms. "And the clothes aren't for me."

Atem blinked. "What do you mean?"

Yuugi grinned. "They're for you."

"…What?"

Yuugi opened his mouth to answer, but a hand clapped against Atem's back before he could get out a word, and both of them turned look up into Jounouchi's beaming face.

"Seriously man, you don't get it? We're having a sleepover! _All of us_!"

"We're- what?" Atem repeated on a stumble, the words registering but his mind struggling to rearrange around this new idea.

This new arrangement that included _him_.

"My father's out of town until Wednesday for an exhibit in Kyoto," Bakura piped in, drawing all eyes to him and his own excited smile. "And I asked him before he left if I could have friends over for the weekend. We're all staying at my place until school Monday morning."

"I still can't believe he was okay with that- and especially _me_ staying overnight," Anzu mused, her words barely a hum over the confusion singing in Atem's head.

Bakura shot her an utterly baffled look. "Why would _you_ be a problem?"

"Because I'm a _girl_?"

"Oh… yes, I suppose I should have mentioned that to him," Bakura answered, mumbling like the last bit he was talking to himself.

Anzu grimaced, expression twisting around at least five different emotions before she settled on a strangled, "Bakura-kun…"

"The more curious question to _me_ ," Otogi cut in, shooting a musing gaze at Anzu. "Is how you convinced _your_ parents to let you come along. They never let you stay at Honda's."

The question seemed to knock Anzu out of her astonishment, as she shook her distress off and waved a dismissive hand towards Otogi. "Oh, that's just because it's Honda. My mom likes Bakura-kun too much to worry about me being at _his_ place. He's been helping her with cooking, after all."

"Helping her… what?" Otogi struggled to echo, turning a shocked stare Bakura's way.

He just smiled. "She really liked the homemade mochi I sent home with Anzu-chan last New Years, so she asked me for some informal tutoring. Oh, and I was thinking I'd make omelette crepes in the morning? Mazaki-san really liked those the last time I made them."

"Er-"

"Whoa, hold up," Honda cut in before Otogi could properly reply, glowering at Anzu. "Why doesn't your mom like me?"

"You think she didn't hear how you and Jounouchi treated Yuugi-kun when we first met, and what you did to me and the other girls? Besides, she saw you come up on your motorcycle the last time you came by."

"What's wrong with my motorcycle?!"

" _Wait,_ " Atem cut in, his whirling mind finally stalling enough to speak up among the chatter.

Everyone turned his way- except for his partner.

Yuugi had been watching him the entire time.

"We are… actually all going to Bakura's?" he asked, a lost frown marring his face. "But I have a double shift in the shop tomorrow, how could I-"

"Um," Yuugi stumbled, his quiet amusement turning sheepish as Atem's gaze honed in on him, already racing ahead with a guess at what his partner confessed. "I may have asked _Jii-chan_ to pretend he couldn't cover in the morning, while Mama was out of town… and asked Mama to say she'd have to be in the city longer than usual, after her club's meeting. But, they're actually both working tomorrow… and they know we're going to be gone."

Yuugi's smile was questioning, as if asking if he should apologize, but Atem was too busy marveling to properly reassure him.

He had gone to _that_ much length just to…

Atem opened his mouth to speak… and shut it…

And clenched it as Jounouchi smacked him on the back again, making him stumble.

"Come on, man! Aren't you excited?! We're all spending the weekend together!"

"Yes," Bakura agreed, smiling at Atem as though blind to his struggle to keep himself on his feet. "I'm really happy to be able to play host while you enjoy your first full, no-danger weekend as a full-fledged person."

"That's a _weird_ way to put that," Otogi mumbled, side-eyeing Bakura as Anzu focused on Atem, drawing his attention with her soft, uncertain voice.

"We all thought of stuff we would like to do together with you, and we thought _you_ would like, too, so…"

"But," Atem started, his gaze zipping between the six hopeful, expectant faces before him as he just… stumbled into the only question he could think to ask. "Why?"

" _Because_! We want to celebrate!" she answered, the hesitance leaving her face as she smiled, cheeks flushed brightly. "It's like Yuugi-kun said, right? That we should all be celebrating the time we have, as well as we can!"

Atem… slowly turned to his partner, catching his eye to ask… he wasn't even sure, with his gaze. He just _asked_ , without a single word.

And Yuugi just smiled, a completely satisfied, at-ease light in his eyes.

He didn't say anything either, but Atem still felt some uncertain tension he couldn't even name unraveling around his heart, releasing it to beat freely.

"Atem?" Anzu asked after a long stall, prompting Atem to blink out of his silent exchange to shoot them all an easy smirk.

"I have to say, you surprised me."

The hopeful hesitance on their faces erupted into full-out grins, and Jounouchi laughed as he swung an arm around Atem's shoulder, tugging him close. And even if he never relaxed into it, Atem grinned right back up at him as he asked, "Does that mean you're coming with us?"

"What do you think? Of course I am."

"Thank goodness," Anzu breathed, and Atem's expression softened some, realizing how relieved his friends were… how much they were doing for him.

They had set up a weekend in his honor.

And he wanted to thank them for it already, but instead he pulled away from Jounouchi and asked, "But what are we doing?" as he looked around the group.

It was Otogi who spoke up, grinning with an odd sort of pride. "Well, I have this friend? I made a deal with him to get us private access for the entire afternoon at-" he started, only to stumble to a stop and shut his mouth preemptively as he locked eyes with someone.

Atem followed his gaze, and discovered his partner… giving Otogi a shushing motion.

When Yuugi turned back to see Atem eying him with a raised brow, he just smiled. "It's a _surprise_ ," he emphasized, motioning with his head for the group to follow as he started walking up the street. "We'll have dinner at a pizza place afterwards, and head to Bakura-kun's for… something _else_ tonight, and stay up late doing that. And then when we wake up tomorrow, we can play games and duel and do whatever you like until we all get worn out and just want to crash with a movie or two before bed."

"Like we'd get sick of dueling!" Jounouchi scoffed, earning a snort from Anzu somewhere farther back in the group.

Atem was too busy side-eyeing his partner to acknowledge it. "But, you're not going to tell me where we're going _now_."

Yuugi looked back at him… and gave a little smirk that shot his pulse through the roof with the thrill of the unknown.

"Nope."

* * *

"Dude, _don't go out there_! You'll get-"

"Shit!" Jounouchi cried, ducking his head back just as something whipped past his ear.

A paintball exploded and oozed red down the room wall as Honda snapped.

"Don't look so blindly!"

"Don't yell so much, they'll find us!"

"They already know we're here," Yuugi observed, bringing both of his friends' screams to an end as they grimaced at their friend, standing beside them behind the divider wall.

They were cornered.

They had focused too much on watching one another's backs and too little on where Anzu, Otogi, and Atem had been leading them with their assault.

 _I should have seen it_ , Yuugi berated himself, foresight leaving him completely aware of _how_ his other self and friends had cut off every other path across the paintball course and led them into running all too willingly to that side of the giant room, and then left them with no choice but to duck behind that wall.

Now the only way back out into the field was _that_ exit… and their friends clearly had their paint guns trained on the opening.

It seemed inevitable. Either the other team would ambush them in their corner… or they would wait them out, until the three grew careless enough to show themselves.

"This sucks," Jounouchi breathed, his grumble earning a _smile_ from his shorter spiky-haired friend.

"So you're not having fun?"

"Oh, _don't get me wrong_ , this is awesome!" Jounouchi hissed, jumping out of his glower to grin right back at him. "I can't believe Bakura _volunteered_ to be the first one to sit out!

"Yeah… I'll have to take his place so he can play in the next round."

"Don't you dare, Yuugi. I need you with me to back me up."

Honda snorted, never taking his eyes off of the edge of the wall. "We pick teams by straws, remember?"

"Whatever," Jounouchi started, only to flinch and duck back as they all heard the telltale sound of footsteps running… and then stalling, way, way too close to them.

Yuugi swallowed, held up his gun… felt the tension of someone being there, just out of sight. And he would have watched forever… except Jounouchi hissed at him, words barely a whisper.

"Hey… you can win even if you're hit, right? It's whoever has a team member standing last, right?"

"Right," Yuugi breathed, only to jolt halfway upright to gape at Jounouchi. "You aren't-"

He didn't even get to finish. Jounouchi just pulled down his safety goggles, shooting him a quick thumbs up. "Get to that loft thing, asap!"

" _Jounouchi-kun_!" Yuugi hissed, but it was no good. His friend had already run out from behind the wall.

"What is he-"

" _Just go_!" Yuugi snapped, prompting Honda to stop questioning and _start running_ as they heard a barrage of pellets being shot.

They didn't look. They just _bolted_ for the 'tunnel' that Yuugi knew was just ten feet from the cover of the wall. Even as they made it inside he felt a 'bullet' whiz by his head and splat on the tunnel wall, a shot managing to get through one of the little slit 'windows' that created vulnerabilities in the tunnel and made it a poor choice for a long term base or hideaway in the game. But it at least created a viable shortcut to the other side of the room, and to the target Jounouchi mentioned.

"Come on!" Honda yelled, skidding to a stop at the edge of the fort loft, turning and lacing his fingers together to give Yuugi a boost the moment he caught up to him. Yuugi didn't even slow his pace. Just tossed the paint gun's strap over his shoulder, ran right into the step into Honda's hand, and stretched his hands to catch the ladder rung Honda threw him up to grab. His feet nearly tangled beneath him in the reckless jump, but he righted himself with the help of expectation and adrenaline, and climbed the rest of the way up to the little loft.

He was already crouching behind the loft wall when Honda joined him, flopping down beside him on the floor.

The air went still save for the sound of their shaken breath, and the echo of paintballs still flying.

"Can't… believe… he's still not down," Honda painted, and Yuugi grimaced down at his sneakers.

Jounouchi had just taken a bullet for them. Maybe not _yet_ , since the other team wouldn't still be shooting on that end of the room if they had taken Jounouchi out, but still… it was three against one. It was a given.

Jounouchi was going down.

"Hey, Yuugi." Honda knocked him against his shoulder, jolting him out of his thoughts as he took off and prepped his gun. "It's just a game."

Yuugi blinked up into Honda's easy stare, then shook his head, laughing lightly. "Right, right… he'll be back next round."

It was weird, how easy it was to forget there were no consequences to winning or losing…

That didn't mean he was going to just take it easy, though, or waste Jounouchi's heroism. So when Honda mused out loud that, "We're probably going to be two against three, though. Maybe two against two if we're lucky and Jounouchi's taking someone out." Yuugi nodded, frowning in thought as he moved his own gun back into his hands.

"We'll have a better vantage point up here, but even if they didn't hear us coming over here while Jounouchi-kun distracted them, Atem will probably guess where we went. We'll have to…"

He trailed off, eyes widening behind his goggles as he listened and realized…

The shooting had stopped.

" _Aaaa_ , nice shot, Atem!" Jounouchi was yelling, calling out across the room. "I'm out, guys!"

"Me and Anzu too!" Otogi called before either Honda or Yuugi could react, prompting both boys to gape at each other.

 _Both of them_?!

"Good luck, Atem-kun! Good luck, you two!" Anzu was saying, but Yuugi was too busy listening to Honda's hissing to notice.

"But if Anzu and Otogi are both out, then-"

"It's just Atem…" Yuugi finished, leaning back against the loft wall and staring at the ceiling as he processed it.

They had a _lead_.

 _Thanks, Jounouchi-kun_.

"If we can take him out, _we win_ ," Honda went on… only to frown at what he could see of the room from there on the floor. "If we can find him, that is." There were a good two dozen obstacles around the room, after all, and unless they exposed themselves they wouldn't be able to see it when Atem moved from cover to cover. Meanwhile, if the two of them sent off even a _single_ shot, he would know where they were… and they wouldn't be able to run. And Atem would never be so foolish or impetuous as to follow up after them, so it would be long, dragging minutes of waiting for one of them to expose themselves long enough to shoot… and while they couldn't be sure where Atem would appear, _he_ would know _exactly_ where to aim his gun.

"…Honda-kun?" Honda looked down into Yuugi's face, and watched as a smile slowly appeared on his face and shining through his goggles. "I've got an idea."

* * *

Atem leaned back against an oil drum, heart still beating against the rush of his fight with Jounouchi, eyes shut as he strained to _listen_.

 _Where are you, aibou_?

Honda and Yuugi had failed to answer their defeated friends' calls, and so he had been given no tell as to where his remaining two opponents were.

Except they had gone through that tunnel.

 _It has to be the loft_ , he decided, stated, though no one could hear him.

But he couldn't hold back a grin because the _reason_ he was unheard was he was _playing_ against the only person who could have once heard him.

Yuugi was somewhere out there with Honda, talking. Calculating. Planning.

It made his hands itch to think about it.

 _What would he do_? Atem thought, ears ever pricked for some sign of an approaching opponent. _Honda is a sharp shot, and fast. His best chance would be to try and rush me. Or catch me unawares. And aibou knows that… Aibou knows that I would lose a direct confrontation. That I will avoid it. That I will try to expose them while staying hidden myself, so that they will be vulnerable and I won't be. So he will try to keep Honda and himself hidden until they can strike. And he won't split from him. He knows that he has the advantage, since I lose if I hit only one of them and then fall. They win if they both confront me at once._

Except, his ears suddenly picked something up.

Footsteps.

A _single_ set of footsteps.

He opened his eyes with frown, listening… yes, it was definitely just one person. The steps quick, and very light.

 _Aibou_.

He was alone… and running right by him.

Atem flicked his gaze in the same direction, barely able to see to his side through the fog of the goggles… but he did not move, too suspicious of the bait.

But his partner just moved right on without a single pause, and faded away to his right.

 _Does he not know I am here? ….and where is Honda?_

He did not know… but he also could not stand it, as a new suspicion hit his bones.

 _Are they trying to surround me?_

He at least knew which _side_ of the room one of them was on… so he crouched and darted forward, behind a set of tires right in front of him, that loosely connected to other covers around it.

He made it. Nothing shot at him as he exposed himself for that brief second, and he was free to crane his head back around a tire and eye the direction Yuugi had run.

It was the fence maze.

 _Did he think I hid in there?_ Atem mused, caught between distrust of the potential opening and understanding of his partner's guess. He, Anzu, and Otogi had camped out in there for a good ten minutes before they played out their scheme to corner their friends, because to get to the center you had to go through three layers of fences within fences, the only breaks being small two-foot splits openings that you could climb through… or shoot through.

It was a good spot… but did his partner _really_ think that _he_ would think to go back in there? Knowing they knew he had been there before?

 _No_ , Atem decided. It had to be a trap… but he wasn't quite sure what to do about it.

He eyed the other end of the room, instead, searching for Honda… and decided to sneak his way to _that_ side, instead.

But as he rushed towards a divider, a shot ran right by his head, splattering the wall with blue.

He ducked back behind the tires, then laughed.

"You need to work on your aim, _aibou_!"

"Thanks for the tip!" Yuugi cried from somewhere back towards the fence maze. "You want to come back out and help me practice?!"

The corners of Atem's mouth quirked, and he strapped his gun to his back. "Maybe later! Why don't you just come a little closer, so you can try an easier shot?!"

Yuugi hummed loudly with would-be thought, and Atem rolled forward onto his stomach and began crawling towards a bunch of boxes over near the fence. If he angled himself _just_ right, and his guess about where Yuugi was proved lucky, the oil drum would obscure his movement…

"No, I think that might backfire on me! You'd just have a better shot, too! So, how about we just admit that we don't want the timer to run out on us, and leave us with a tie, so we should just stop playing chicken with each other like this and have it out?! …Atem?"

Atem smirked, rising to his feet behind the pile of boxes.

Good, there were no exposed areas between him and the maze. Now if he could just work his way around the outside of the maze without Yuugi hearing him-

There was a _scrape_ right behind him.

Atem stalled, brow furrowing as a warning ran through his gut.

 _What_ -

He whipped around, and stared right into the barrel of a gun.

The smile on Yuugi's face caught as they locked eyes.

Yuugi jerked his hand back - unwilling to shoot Atem right in the face, goggles or no goggles - and that was all the opening Atem needed to turn and bolt around a fence corner.

A curse and two wild shots rang out behind him.

Nothing hit him, though, and Atem slammed his back up against the fence as he readied his gun, smirking at the trails of blue that streaked the floor beside him.

" _Aim_ , _aibou_!"

There was a huff behind him somewhere, followed by a "I didn't think I'd have to _aim_ a foot away from your back!" and Atem realized that Yuugi wasn't standing there anymore, just around the corner. He had turned tail and run back to hide behind the boxes Atem had just abandoned.

Smart.

"Fair point," Atem allowed, readying his gun and scrutinizing the room before for any possible ambushes from Honda… while still grinning at an unseen partner. "Then how about _don't hesitate_?"

"…Noted."

Atem quirked a brow, for he had expected some comment about how Yuugi would have hurt him if he hadn't _hesitated_. Instead he got _that_ , a long quiet pause… then shooting.

Blue paint balls zipped by his ear to splatter on the distant wall, one after another, and another, and another…

Atem twitched back from the corner's edge and frowned at the sight, trying to understand what-

 _Oh_.

Yuugi was walking up the length of the wall between them, openly, slowly… shooting rapid fire the entire way.

 _I can't hit him_ , Atem realized, eyes widening with rising comprehension. _It's too fast! I'd get hit for sure if I jump out and aim! And he's coming right up to me, so_ -

Atem turned and made a mad dash for the fence opening, ducking inside the maze.

 _This has to be a trap. He's trying to corner me in here somehow!_ Atem thought as he ran and searched for some corner to await his surely chasing partner… grinning the entire way.

There were no corners in the maze to hide in, but at a break in the shooting, signifying Yuugi's discovery of his retreat, Atem settled himself behind a random wall, prepping himself to react at the drop of a pin as he heard Yuugi's run inside behind him.

The footsteps stalled to a stop… and then nothing.

Silence.

Atem sucked in a long breath, then cut if off by biting his lip, finding even _that_ to be too loud. The urge to move or fidget or adjust his gun _ate_ at him, but he denied it… waiting…

The smallest pulse of a sound, and he put his faith in his luck.

He whipped around the corner and shot blind at chest level.

* * *

Yuugi jerked back, dropping his gun with a clatter.

Red splattered and ran down the left side of his old grey t-shirt.

" _Awww_ ," Yuugi sighed, reaching up to touch the spot, only to think better of it with the shake of a head as he looked up-

And froze.

He had expected to see his other self there, sure. But Atem… he was grinning at him, bright and shining and staring at him with the most satisfied look shining in his eyes, even _through_ the goggles… And that _look_ ran the full length of Atem's body, showed in his smile and his posture and his hands, the one with the gun relaxing as the other rested against his hip.

Both lowered as Atem lifted his goggles and moved towards him, a lazy tilt in his hips that left Yuugi blinking, unsure what to do… and of himself.

"Nice try, _aibou_ ," Atem said casually, grinning, undisturbed and ignorant of the weird buzz running through Yuugi's mind. "Now if you'll excuse me, I have to focus on-"

He didn't get a chance to name him.

A shot rang out and Atem jerked forward, eye wide and unfocused.

Even Yuugi jumped at the noise, and he instinctively reached out and caught Atem by the shoulders as he stumbled to his knees.

"Wow, Yuugi! That actually worked!"

Both looked up and back to see Honda there, at the edge of another fence wall, grinning with his gun still in hand.

"Honda?" Atem asked, narrowing his eyes on him with a confused frown. "When did you get in here? I didn't hear you walking-"

"It was me," Yuugi interrupted, drawing those vibrant red eyes back to him as he pushed his goggles up into his hair and smiled. "When I was going on about the timer, and backfiring and stuff? I was saying all of that on purpose, to-"

"To cover up his footsteps…" Atem finished on a breath, his expression relaxing into open wonder. "You planned to draw me in here from the start."

Yuugi shrugged, sliding his hands down Atem's shoulders to catch his elbows, pulling the slightest bit to prompt him to stand. "We set up for it. I was also aiming to shoot you _before_ we got into the maze, but if you got all the way in here, Honda was waiting, so-"

Atem ignored Yuugi's prompt to rise. No, he fell back onto his knees completely to focus on _laughing_ , right and proper and from the belly. " _Of course_ , you set me up to- _How are you this good, aibou_?!"

Yuugi's face went instantly red with the praise… but it was the _smile_ Atem shot him, and the adoring glow behind it, that made Yuugi's hands still a breath from pulling him up. That made his pulse rise up into his throat and pound a slow, heavy beat against the base of his tongue.

It made it impossible to talk.

But Honda wasn't saying _anything_ , and Atem seemed content to keep staring at him _forever_ , not a thought or a consideration behind his warm gaze.

And if Yuugi's mind was slow to catch up, his instinct to _recover_ was a little faster, and he twitched with would-be words and gestures long before he finally managed a proper smile, and a word as he pulled on Atem's arms, then _hands_ when even _that_ didn't convince him to move. "W-well, it was Honda-kun who was fast enough to get across the room and in here while I talked, and who moved fast enough to hit you, before you noticed… right, Honda-kun?"

The name friend hummed noncommittally, and Atem zipped an unseeing smile back at him before focusing on Yuugi again, _finally_ acquiescing to rise… still holding onto Yuugi's hands.

They felt strangely over-sensitive to the boy, under his touch.

"That _was_ amazing, and now the both of you and Jounouchi won! We should go back and tell them," Atem decided, grinning at Yuugi and _squeezing_ his hands before finally letting go and leading the charge out of the maze… giving the two a nice view of the big blue spot in the middle of his back. "Come on!"

"R-right." Yuugi rubbed his hands on his jeans - they were oddly sweaty - and turned a blind blink back on his remaining friend. "You coming, Honda-kun?"

"Course," he answered easily… but as Yuugi turned, and trailed after Atem, Honda held back for a second.

Started after them both with a long, thoughtful frown.

* * *

"Ninety-One!"

" _Damn_ , Atem! How are you managing these rolls?!" Jounouchi cried, gaping with the rest of them as the former pharaoh smirked down at the table before them.

The table that supported a large tabletop scene of a forest, sprinkled with tiny figures and a whole rainbow of ten-sided dice.

And it was the purple dice that had just rolled to a stop among the model trees, displaying a big '90' and '01' for all seven teens to see.

Bakura shook his head out of his own shock, and grinned at Atem. "That would be a full-powered Magic Bullet, then. And with that, you take out the last goblin! You saved your caravan!"

"Alright!" Jounouchi hooted as everyone else cheered, and Otogi sighed his relief.

"Thanks, Atem-kun. I thought I had sung my last spell back there," he joked, picking up his little bard figurine and making it 'dance' a little in his hand. "I was down to my last health point!"

"We wouldn't have let that happen. And now Anzu can heal you up, right Anzu?" Atem asked, turning to the girl- who jumped to attention and grinned back at him.

"Of course! Is… that alright, Bakura-kun? Or do I have to wait for my turn?"

"No no, we're out of combat now, so you can roll once for a heal spell before the next battle."

"Okay, then… my dice were the yellow ones, right?"

"Seriously though, man," Jounouchi cut in, drawing Atem's attention away from the game and to the grinning blond. "If I had known a warlock would be that awesome, I would've asked Bakura to make me one, too!"

"You're a fighter because that's what your figurine was to begin with, remember?" Honda cut in, meeting Jounouchi's impatient glower with lazy amusement.

" _Still_ , I'm just saying he was great in that fight! It's awesome enough that Bakura was willing to play this game with us again, but it's even _cooler_ that Otogi and Atem get characters this time!"

"I am glad you got to play with us," Yuugi agreed, quieter than his friend but equally sincere as he looked at the lookalike sitting beside him. "It's a lot more fun having you here beside us, playing like this."

Atem had been grinning gratefully the entire time they were talking, but his smile eased and took on a softer quality as he focused on Yuugi. "Thank you, _aibou_."

Yuugi shrugged, not answering. He just smiled back.

And Honda watched from across the table… idly wondering how long it would take for one 'Mutou' to tear his eyes off of the other.

Otogi poked his arm, and he never found out.

"Hey, Honda. Anzu got a bad roll. Can I use one of your potions?"

"Huh? Oh, sure. Knock yourself out." Honda shook the thoughts from his head and took out a pencil to mark the item off of his character sheet. "But that was our last one. If we really want to go into that dungeon, I think we should go back to that village and restock."

"I'm for that!" Jounouchi agreed, shooting a sly look at the model town near his elbow. "I want to go back to that tavern, anyways. I still think that bar girl knew something about that treasure we're looking for."

Anzu snorted, rolling her eyes. "You just want to make Bakura-kun talk like a girl and flirt with him again, don't you?"

"I was not _flirting_! I was just trying to coax some information out of that NPC!"

"Whatever it was, it was gross, and I don't want to see it again," Otogi countered, shooting Jounouchi a flat look. "If someone _does_ have to flirt with the NPC - and by that I mean Bakura-kun - at least don't let it be _you_."

"Yeah well, who would you _want_ to see try it?!"

Otogi shrugged, and slowly everyone began to look around the table, shooting checking, wondering looks at each player in turn… until, inevitably, all eyes landed on _Atem_.

And his languid, vaguely curious expression froze over, and he just… blinked at them… before finally turning a hesitant frown down on his character sheet.

"Is… there something I can roll for that?"

Two beats passed, and then Yuugi cracked first, gasping out a caught breath before falling into peals of laughter.

Everyone else quickly followed suit, but Atem focused his glower on his partner, a deep red running up his nose and ears as he demanded to know, " _What?!_ "

Yuugi laughed harder.


	8. Chapter 8

**Title** : Reconfiguration  
 **Summary:** A few minutes delay is all it takes to change the course of lives, and Atem is not certain if he should thank the gods or curse them for this shift in his destiny. For what did it mean for his fate, this chance to know the world again in his own flesh? What good might come from this chance to linger so solidly in a world he was meant to leave? [Puzzleshipping, Canon Branch-Off]  
 **Rating:** **T** for Teen. Language, etc.  
 **Author:** Phoebe Delos  
 **Fandom:** Yu-Gi-Oh! DM  
 **Spoilers:** Pretty much the full series (manga edition).  
 **Disclaimer:** Yu-Gi-Oh! isn't mine. Neither is Ringu.  
 **Notes:** And I'm done catching up to my Ao3 releases! FYI, I'm currently working on chapter 9, but illness and family situations have cost me a lot of writing time recently. I'm afraid it's more realistic to just say I'll have it up when I can, than to give a release estimate.

* * *

 **:: Sunday, June 21 ::**

"…Run. _Run, damn it! Don't just stand there and ask_ _ **why**_ _and keep watching–_ oh crap, _don't answer the phone!"_

"Is Sadako going to come right up to the screen?"

"Would you guys shush?"

"That looks so weird."

" _Why_ is he still watching the TV? If I were him, I would be running the hell out– _holy shit!"_

"Did she just come out of the _freaking TV?!"_

"Why the fuck isn't he running?! _RUN, YOU IDIOT–"_

"Oh, he is _dead."_

"Well _duh,_ he's dead! What was he thinking, that– oh, _look at her nails!"_

" _And_ he fell… and now he's crawling. He's dead. He is _so_ dead."

"Will you guys _shut up?_ I am trying to watch– _Ah!"_

" _What is with her eye?!"_

"Bakura, what the hell were you thinking with this movie?!"

"Oh?" the named boy finally broke his silence amongst the cluster of screaming teens to look down at Jounouchi with a taken aback stare. "Are you not enjoying it?"

The blond twisted about on his spot on the floor to gawk at Bakura, the movie scene changing behind him and highlighting his stressed yells against the sudden quiet. " _No_ , I am not enjoying it! I told you I hate ghosts, _remember?!"_

"Huh," Bakura… _remarked,_ popping some popcorn into his mouth as he turned back to the screen. "I guess I thought you'd warm to it."

Jounouchi scoffed, stumbled over some comeback… and ultimately gave up verbal retribution in favor of reaching up and swiping the snack bowl. "Stop hogging it already, will you?!"

Unfortunately, Bakura wasn't the one _holding_ it.

Anzu quickly reached down and yanked the bowl back, glaring hot fire at the would-be thief as she settled back on the couch. "You've had more than half of it, Jounouchi-kun. And will you _shush?!_ I haven't heard a word said for the last minute!"

"The cop said Ryuuji is dead, and Reiko's asking that student girlfriend of his about finding his body," Honda filled in, apparently having caught the dialogue from his arm chair, well removed from the couch and its squabbling occupants. "She was going on about his dead face looking unnatural, and now Reiko's freaking out. Nothing pertinent missed."

"Still, she's trying to figure out the curse, isn't she?"

Yuugi, sitting on the couch on Anzu's other side, paused mid-popcorn sneaking to look down at the last speaker– the man sitting on the floor between his and her feet.

Atem didn't look back, but waved indicatively at the image of the woman running around her own apartment, clearly distressed. "Something triggered the curse for Ryuuji, and not her, and she's worried that her son will die too, so–" He was cut off by the television making that sharp, jarring noise that always accompanied something _scary_ in the film.

Yuugi looked up, instantly alert and curious, but he must have missed it because all he saw was the Reiko lady's shocked face and– and his mind blanked out as Atem belatedly jerked.

Jerked, pressed his shoulder into Yuugi's knee, and _clutched his ankle_.

No one else must have noticed, given their collective gasps and Jounouchi's " _What the shit?!"_ but _Yuugi_ sure noticed… was left pointedly aware of the arm pressed against his calf, the tight grip squeezing the rough cotton of his sock into his skin, the touch warming him through the fabric.

Yuugi stared at the back of Atem's head, waiting for… something.

 _Something_ to signify _why_ he was holding onto him.

The seconds ticked by, the movie rolled on, his shock ebbed, and in its place came logic and dismissal. Because obviously, there _was_ no why. The grab was a thoughtless, distracted impulse on Atem's part, the contact lingering only because the movie wasn't over yet. The former pharaoh might be restrained about it, might curb his own outbursts instinctively, but he was _just_ as prone to shock and fear as the rest of them, so… he just got scared. Simple.

But a new question flowed through Yuugi's mind in place of the first, heavy and abstract and wordless and itchy as his own nerves. Because… even as he dismissed his shock, and Atem's touch, he couldn't… he couldn't pull his attention _away_ from the contact.

He should be watching the movie. Instead, he kept staring at the back of Atem's head, imagining the hand at the ankle he couldn't see, caught in the same mental white space he… he found himself falling into more and more often. The space he had once called _shock_ but was clearly shifting to _distraction_ because, even if they did not touch often, it had happened enough across the last week that it shouldn't be a _surprise_ anymore. Atem just… touched him sometimes. _Could_ touch him. And _he_ touched _him…_ when it was called for. Their arms or shoulders would brush when they sat together, or their fingers would catch as they passed things between them, and sometimes Atem would even purposely reach out to him, and _yeah_ it had always startled Yuugi, but… but instead of growing used to it, it felt like… it was getting worse.

 _And that_ earlier? At the paintball game? That had been different. Or, not _different_ just… warm. A warm smile and warm red eyes and warm, sharp elbows under his hands and warm hands in _his_ hands and–

Yuugi shut his eyes, huffing out a silent breath as he strove to _shake off_ the thought without any visible movement.

Seriously, _why_ was he thinking like this? About it at all? Yeah, it was still _weird,_ but Atem had been flesh and bone for over a week now. It wasn't a novelty anymore. He just needed to get _used to it already._ Stop _thinking_ about it so much! There was no reason to feel so… _weird_ about it.

…But logic couldn't change how that touch scratched at his nerves. How it distracted him. How Yuugi jumped – just a _little_ – when Atem's grip twitched.

And _yeah_ , he might have yelped.

Just a bit.

Atem instantly looked back, whatever movie-prompted fear might have been in his eyes replaced by true concern. "Something wrong, _aibou?"_

Yuugi smiled, forcing himself to relax under everyone's sudden gaze. "No, this movie is just really creepy."

"You're telling _me,"_ Jounouchi huffed, words muffled around a mouthful of popcorn. He'd apparently managed to claim the bowl at… some point. "The guy's dead, and now if Reiko wants to save her kid, she's got to curse her _dad?"_

… _Is that how it works?_ Yuugi wondered, finally looking back to the television.

The credits were already rolling, though, and someone turned on a table lamp. Light flooded Bakura's living room and Yuugi blinked through the glare to discover a mess of wrinkled sleeping bags, opened snacks, and abandoned games still strewn across the floor, just as they had left it.

Bakura stepped over an empty chips bag to reach the television, ejecting the tape and shutting off the screen before asking, "Yuugi-kun and Jounouchi-kun gave their verdicts, but what do the rest of you think?"

"Not bad," Otogi piped in first, stretching his legs with a strained sigh before leaning back in his own armchair, hands folded behind his head. "Just your basic spook flick in the end, but the cursed tape thing was pretty unique– and that ending was quite a twist."

"I think so, too," Bakura smiled, only to turn back to Jounouchi. "And to answer your question, I don't think Reiko would just let her father die. She would have told him to copy the tape, too, and pass it on to someone else… which you could call amoral as well, but it you read the sequel, you know it doesn't really matter what she intended him to do."

"Wait," Jounouchi froze, gawking at the teen with tension running visibly up his back. "There's a _sequel?_ You– you're not going to make us watch _that_ too, are you?!"

"And what do you mean by _read?"_ Honda added, cutting in and earning a sudden, tickled smile from their host.

Jounouchi made a strangled, frustrated noise as he answered Honda, instead.

"Oh! I mean the book. This movie is actually based on a book series, and _Ringu_ was the first story in it." Bakura laughed a little as he fished around for the VHS box, putting up the tape as he admitted, "Honestly, I'm happy all of you agreed to watch this, but I really think the book is better– though it might not be fair to compare them, really. They're just so different."

"How so?" Atem asked, readjusting on the floor so that his head was resting against the seat cushion, just by Yuugi's knee.

He still hadn't let go of him.

But even if _Yuugi_ noticed, Bakura didn't seem to, even as he smiled right at the lounging king. "Well, for starters, it's less _scary_ and more like a mystery, even though they make a bigger deal of Sadako's death and her powers. And, let's see, Reiko's last name is still Asakawa but he is actually a boy and–"

"Wait, wait– what?" Anzu cut in, and even Yuugi looked up and stared Bakura with shock at _that_ claim.

"Then… was _Ryuuji_ still a guy?" he tried, but the pale-haired shook his head with an uncertain eye.

"Yes, why would you think otherwise?"

"Uh, because Ryuuji and Asakawa Reiko, or whatever _he's_ called in the book? They're Yoichi's _parents_ and all into each other?" Honda clarified, earning a couple considering blinks, and then a laugh from Bakura.

"Oh, that! No, no… Asakawa was the only parent in the books, and he– he's called Kazuyuki, by the way. He and Ryuuji were old friends, nothing more. The romance stuff was just added for the movie."

"Pffft, typical," Jounouchi scoffed, relaxing back against the couch's side with crossed arms, his face not visible from Yuugi's angle, but a glower clear enough in his voice alone. "What's the point of making the main guy a girl for the sake of _romance_ if they don't even bang in the flick– hey!" He jerked back and glared over his shoulder at Anzu for swatting him in the ribs with her heel.

She frowned right back, clearly ready to say something– but Otogi got there first, mumbling aloud that, "Well, they must have banged at _some_ point, since they had Yoichi. But if you ask me, they _definitely_ hooked up after that kiss on that boat."

"Off screen doesn't count!" Jounouchi snapped, not looking back again as Anzu slumped in her seat with a frustrated sigh.

"Why do I like you guys again…?"

"Though, back to the book," Otogi went on, ignoring Anzu's jab in favor of musing aloud… and making all of them jump and look at him as he said, "If the movie director wanted to be _really_ edgy, he should have kept Asakawa a guy, and added a romance with Takayama Ryuuji _anyways."_

Jounouchi choked audibly on air, Yuugi felt Anzu jerk into a tense standstill, and he himself couldn't do anything but _stare_ at his friend with a blank mind and struggling comprehension.

If Honda or Atem had some reaction of their own, they did not voice it, and Yuugi did not notice. But he was certain they were _all_ staring at Otogi when he shot them a laughing, unperturbed smirk, as if to ask _Well, what are you looking at me for?_

For his part, Bakura just considered Otogi for a few, silent moments, then shook his head before moving to retake his seat on the couch. "That probably wouldn't have been a good idea. Asakawa in the book was married with a baby girl, Yoko– the novel's version of Yoichi. If he had gotten involved with Ryuuji, it would have been considered an affair. And it would have been too cruel to kill off or ignore his wife, Shizu… Besides, the book version of Ryuuji isn't really a nice person."

Otogi nodded, sobering under the sincere reply… only to frown belatedly at Bakura. "Could you call him Takayama? Using _my_ name for him and all… I know that's what it is, but it's just weird."

Honda gave a sudden, loud chuckle from across the room. "That's right, _Ryuuji_ was killed by Sadako, wasn't he?"

Otogi shot him a dirty look, but didn't deign to reply… and he, and everyone else, quickly shifted their focus when _Atem_ of all people spoke up with a humming, thoughtful, "Still, even if it would have been unpleasant, it would have been _interesting_ if the movie kept Asakawa married to someone else, and showed him - or her - involved with Takayama anyways. Their affair would have been an ironic mirror to Sadako's own parents."

Someone hiccuped in shock.

Anzu… probably.

Yuugi didn't look up to check. He was too busy pinning an astounded look on the back of Atem's head. Because, _yeah,_ he didn't sound _approving_ of his own point, but still the very suggestion seemed so very… un-Atem-like.

So it was honestly much more understandable when he followed up the thought with a "But I don't really get why you'd want a romance between them in the first place."

" _Yeah,_ Otogi," Jounouchi agreed, seeming to ease into the shift of focus as he leaned back against the couch between Anzu and Bakura's legs. He grabbed a soda from somewhere down near their feet Yuugi couldn't see, popping it open as he shook his head. "You really think the movie people could get away with something like that in a mainstream flick? Two _guys_ involved?"

Atem _finally_ let go of Yuugi, and the boy shut his eyes with a silent, shuddery sigh as his chest finally relaxed… a weird, listless sort of feeling rising up in place of the distraction that had plagued him.

He pushed it out of his mind, and when he opened his eyes again, he found Atem had turned to sit sideways, where he could face Jounouchi and shake his own head while looking directly at him. "No, I mean in the movie _or_ the books, man or woman. Either way, I don't see what the romance adds to the story."

Jounouchi snorted in apparent, amused agreement, but… even as the blond said, "Here's to that" with a raised bottle, Yuugi could hear the uncertainty creeping into his voice. Because he must have noticed what Yuugi himself did almost instantly.

Even in profile, Yuugi could see it… Atem's expression wasn't dismissive, or irritated, or disagreeable.

He looked… confused.

Honestly confused.

It was a subtle thing, but it shone clear enough in his eyes that _everyone_ must have seen it, and a lost sort of quiet fell over the living room… until Anzu dared to broach it.

"Well, um," she tried, and when Yuugi turned her way he saw that she was staring at Atem with an oddly _anxious_ sort of look– a look Atem returned with a neutral sort of attentiveness, Yuugi saw, when he flicked his gaze back to the confused king. "Asakawa in the movie, Reiko? She really cared about Ryu– I mean, _Takayama,_ so that made it a lot sadder in the end when he died. And more meaningful when he apparently helped her from beyond the grave."

Rather than look resolved by the fine explanation, Atem just shook his head again. "I understand that, Anzu. What I meant was, why does it mean _more_ for them to be lovers, when they could have been friends, like in the book as Bakura described? I know I would be just as upset, if not _more so_ than Reiko was there, if something like that happened to any of you." He instantly turned his gaze about with the group, the serious but appreciative glint in his eye cutting through the baffled hesitance in the air and making all of them slowly grin.

And when Atem craned his neck around to look up at _him,_ Yuugi felt the confused tension in his own mind seep away under the warmth in that red gaze.

There just wasn't room for anything else but an answering smile.

" _Dude,"_ Jounouchi hissed, prompting Yuugi and Atem alike to turn his way and blink in the face of his grimace. "Don't even joke about that! Something like _that_ happening to one of us… I'm going to have a hard enough time sleeping tonight as it is… especially with that TV _right there!"_

A laugh came surprisingly easily to Yuugi, and he let it loose as he grinned at his best friend. "Then it's a good thing we're all sleeping here together, right? We can keep an eye on each other and keep the ghosts away."

Jounouchi huffed at the mandatory humor in Yuugi's words, but his glance was genuinely grateful all the same.

At his feet, Atem chuckled, too, shaking his head… but even as he laughed, his complaint flowing more easily and casually than before, he _still_ said, "The point remains, I still don't get it. How is it 'less sad' or 'less meaningful' if the characters are 'just' friends? That seems demeaning somehow."

Yuugi's own smile curled with fondness, and… something heavier, that he himself didn't understand, or feel any urge to scrutinize. But before he could press the sensation fully aside and reassure his other, someone else spoke up first.

"It's not about friendship meaning less, man."

All heads in the room turned with soft surprise to look at the speaker, but Honda's expression didn't shift with the sudden attention. He kept his surprisingly serious gaze set soundly on Atem, and said, "Being in love with someone is just _special,_ so the loss of that person would just… It's different. And it would feel like a much bigger deal to a lot of people."

…If it had been quiet before, when Atem surprised them all, it was now dead silent.

And Yuugi… he was still looking at his friend, just like the others, but his mind had blanked out. Short-circuited on the sudden, unexpected input. He just… he didn't know how to take it.

And when the word 'loss' echoed through his ear… he just didn't want to think on it at _all._

His eyes flicked back to his other self amid the impulse evasion, and he drank in Atem's profile… the strange emptiness of his expression.

He didn't know what to think of Honda's comments, either.

Yuugi was sure of that, so there was no surprise or confusion to upset the strained stillness of his mind when Atem breathed a flat " _Oh."_

A hand slapped down on Atem's shoulder, and Yuugi jerked nearly as violently as _he_ did with the shock of it.

"Eh, who cares?!" Jounouchi dismissed, giving Atem a reassuring grin before his face twisted with recollecting distaste. "The important thing is, guy or gal, romance or not, that movie was _horrifying,_ and no friendship or love story was going to salvage _that!_ I swear, I know we said you could pick after that awesome Monster World campaign, but why did you have to steal my sleep and peace of mind?"

The last he aimed at their ever patient, ever terrorizing host, and in answer Bakura just laughed.

"Haha, sorry, Jounouchi-kun. Would picking the movie to watch while I finish dinner help?"

Jounouchi sniffed in reply, letting go of Atem to wave dismissively at Bakura, and once again the spell holding the group frozen broke. Atem leaned away from Jounouchi's sharp touch and glowered at his ignorant back, Anzu gave a weird little sigh at Yuugi's side, and everyone shifted their attention from speaker to speaker, once again free to move.

And Yuugi made himself join them, shaking off his own odd, scattered feelings like a layer of dust as he listened to Jounouchi say, "What about a game, instead? I'd rather not look at a TV screen or a _tape_ right now, you know?" He gave a shudder, shooting a wary side glance at the benign, shut off television set.

"We told you," Anzu cut in before Bakura could answer, pinning a clear warning look on the blond at her feet. "We don't want to watch you guys duel all night. This sleepover is for _all_ of us to do things together, and Honda-kun, Otogi-kun, and I don't duel."

"Oh, _come on,_ Anzu!" Jounouchi snapped, scooting around on his butt to glower right back up at her. "I want to duel Atem! I haven't had a chance since Battle City ended!"

Beside him, Atem jerked to attention, his own ire washed away by instant intrigue.

Yuugi, too, sat up straight in his seat at the suggestion.

But Anzu was having none of it. "You could have done that anytime this week before the sleepover."

"Well I didn't know you'd put a stupid _ban on it this weekend!_ And I bet it would be fun to watch!"

"Not when we all know what the result is going to be from the start," Otogi taunted, raising an arm to protect his face from a sofa pillow-turned-projectile.

"Oh, what do you know?! And come on, I know _I'd_ enjoy seeing a duel, even if I'm not in it! And… oh! What if Atem and _Yuugi_ dueled? I would totally watch that!"

If Yuugi hadn't already been sitting down, he would have tripped.

As it was, he nearly fell off of the sofa arm from whipping around so fast towards his friend, making Anzu jerk back with a yelp to find him suddenly kneeling on the cushions facing her, but looking right over her lap at _Jounouchi,_ who just kept grinning up at him expectantly.

…Slowly, Yuugi turned to look at his other self.

Atem hadn't moved at all, much less in surprise. No… he looked frozen stiff in shock.

But he must have felt Yuugi looking at him, because he instantly turned his head and stared back at him, the pair caught in their gaze and the mutual, surprising thought.

Duel _each other…_

It was kind of ridiculous that it hadn't occurred to Yuugi sooner, to be honest.

But rather than regret that fact or consider the multiple reasons why that was so, Yuugi just… smiled questioningly.

And Atem switched from flat surprise to shining elation so fast that he should have rightly _hurt himself_ with the suddenness of that smile.

And it made it oh so hard, then, for Yuugi to shake his head. "I'd like that, too… but Anzu is right. If we play another game, we should pick something we can all enjoy."

To his relief, Atem didn't mirror Jounouchi's overt, loud disappointment. His smile ebbed down, yes, but the delight and approval still lingered in his expression, showing he understood Yuugi's reasoning… and still appreciated his general willingness at the idea.

Which could have spilt Yuugi into a fit of giggles, because of _course_ he would be happy to duel him! He'd been too caught up in still thinking of them as a unit to consider it before, sure, but now that Jounouchi had _voiced it…_

Man, he hoped school didn't give him too much homework tomorrow. He wanted to keep his evening free, now.

For the time being, though, he turned to Bakura and his input without a single reservation.

"I have a copy of Clue you guys could play, if you want. It can only take six people, but I'll be busy in the kitchen anyways, so you guys can all play without a problem."

"But Bakura-kun," Anzu protested, turning to the boy with open, friendly disapproval. "You shouldn't have to make dinner all on your–"

"Oh! Oh!" Jounouchi suddenly yelled, jumping to his feet as he spoke over Anzu. "I call the red piece!"

"The red one's the Scarlett woman, Jounouchi," Otogi reminded him, smiling as Jounouchi's smile slid into uncertainty.

"Oh… which color isn't a girl?"

Half the room chuckled – Yuugi included – while Anzu just sighed. "Do you hear yourself when you talk?"

"Shut up!"

––––

Atem leaned into the sink as he scooped the running water into his hands and splashed his face.

He breathed out into the cool liquid, letting it run down his nose and chin and plaster his bangs to his cheeks… until the discomfort of leaning over overwhelmed the relief of the water. When he stood back up, the shift made him flinch and wonder if it had all even been worth the effort.

He sighed and reached blindly for a hand towel, less to dry himself and more to press the fabric against the pain in his brow.

His head was pulsing.

The ache had started some point in the middle of that movie, and had only grown from there, shifting from a mild, dismissible pang as the closing credits rolled to a throbbing torment that he could barely conceal as he and his friends played and ate dinner. He was sure he wouldn't be able to hide it much longer, and he suspected his partner had already noticed, given the frown Yuugi had shot him when Atem abandoned the table just as dessert was being served, claiming to need to use the bathroom.

Perhaps he was getting sick?

 _It doesn't feel like any of aibou's colds or flus,_ he mused, sighing as he re-hung the towel and shut off the faucet. It could just be that his new – or rather _old_ – body didn't process things the same way Yuugi's did, but something told Atem that wasn't it. Something… something in him knew the truth well enough to deny the wrong solution, even as the right one alluded him. Whatever the cause was behind his pain, it had been prompted by that movie, not a virus.

And even if this was by far the worst he had ever felt, he had had other, milder headaches across the week.

They had been passing, though, and simple enough to ignore, while this one had settled somewhere behind his eyes, and Atem pinched the bridge of his nose for a long, centering moment, before finally steeling himself and turning for the door.

Maybe he could pull Bakura aside and quietly ask for some painkillers or something.

As he slipped out into the bathroom, though, his wary considerations on how to keep his friends and partner from seeing and worrying about his state ran smack dab into the realization that the hallway wasn't empty.

"Hey," Honda greeted simply, remaining as he was, leaning against the wall opposite the door with his arms crossed and a calm gaze set on the bathroom– and him.

What was he…

Atem blinked through his surprise and asked, "Did you need to use the toilet?"

"Yeah. Bakura offered to let me into the bathroom in his bedroom, but it felt weird to intrude."

"Hmm… right. Sorry for making you wait, then. It's all yours." Atem stepped to the side in a clear offering gesture of the vacant room behind him, then turned to go.

"Right… hey, Atem?"

He stalled, and turned to find Honda still there, leaning against the wall… and frowning down at the carpet.

Atem arched a brow in silent question, but did not speak… and after a breath Honda looked up and ask, "I didn't weird you out back there, did I? You know, after the movie? By getting all serious in answering you and all?"

He stared at Honda in silent, honest uncertainty, unsure what he meant… until a quick mental review of Honda's comments after the movie brought him to only one answer, and he tensed with a whole _different_ form of uncertainty.

Right. _That._

"No, of course not," he assured, offering his oddly serious-faced friend a smile that… was probably pretty transparent and strained. "What you said made sense, I'm sure. I just didn't get it."

Honda's expression twisted with a sort of half-there bewilderment. "Didn't get what? How being in love and romance and stuff might mean more to somebody than friendship?"

"No, I know people might feel that way," Atem sighed in dismissive answer, his eyes already wandering down the hall, the direction he intended to walk as soon as the conversation ended.

"Well, _yeah,_ and it's cool if you don't feel that way, you know. Flattering, really, speaking as one of your friends," Honda finished on a grumble, prompting Atem to turn back to him, and his mouth to twitch with fond humor for the embarrassment plain on the guy's face. "But, when you were talking back in the living room? And the way you looked at me after _I_ talked? It was almost like you didn't _get_ the difference. Like you didn't get the difference between friendship and romantic love enough to even know _why_ someone would ever pick romance, you know?"

…Atem felt his smile falling, despite himself.

He stared too long, let the silence hang too long, and Honda noticed.

His expression faltered, too, and they were left just… standing there, watching each other… until Atem turned back to the hall and spoke, far, far too late.

"I know what romance is, Honda."

"Well, _yeah,_ I know you're not stupid, Atem," Honda sniffed, and Atem watched from his peripheral as the guy stuffed his hands into his pockets and fidgeted, clearly uncomfortable. "But that's not the same as _getting_ it, is it?"

"Well, that would follow, wouldn't it?" Atem drawled, striving with all his might to keep his tone from getting defensive, and his headache from shortening his temper. "I imagine you'd have to go through it to really _get it,_ right? Or at least like someone in that way."

Honda gave a… very noncommittal hum of a sound, and when Atem flicked his gaze back to him properly, he saw Honda was just… _looking at him,_ and the opaque scrutiny of that look chipped at his patience.

Just what was Honda getting at, anyways? This definitely didn't seem like some casual curiosity.

But whatever his intentions or his thinking, Honda said nothing for so long that Atem finally felt compelled to go on himself, shrugging and crossing his arms as he acknowledged, "You would probably know better than I would, wouldn't you? I know you've at least liked some girls before. So, if you think it's that easy to 'get it' then _you_ should be the one stating what 'romantic love' is, and why someone would pick it."

"Well, _yeah,_ I guess you have a point." Honda rolled his shoulders, readjusting his lean on the wall as he grimaced at the far end of the hall. "If I'm going to ask you, then I should at least put my money where my mouth is. I just wanted to know if _you_ knew, but if _I_ had to say, I guess… what makes romance different would be… erm… just… how do you…" He choked on a lost word, cheeks flaming hotter than the hot pot Bakura served them for dinner.

And all Atem could do was look on, his own irritation slowly unfurling into bemused interest.

He knew he should probably just tell Honda it didn't matter. That it was unnecessary to hunt so hard for an answer. That Atem had pressed for one just because Honda had been badgering _him,_ and he didn't actually _care_ about the answer.

Instead, he just stood there, waiting… Honda's struggle spurring a sort of secondary intrigue in the living pharaoh.

If he were honest, he was a little curious what the man would say.

Because he _did_ know what romance was, and what it looked like. He had his borrowed memories, after all, and a fair year or two of opportunities to witness at least _crushes_ via his partner and friends… not to mention an entire backlog of fiction he could draw on, like the movie that had prompted this weird chat in the first place, for example.

But, as with that movie, Atem could only observe secondhand, and even the rare chance to experience the physical and mental sensations via his partner provided only a pattern of behavior. He didn't… he didn't know what the _inside_ of those feelings was supposed to feel like.

And something told him it probably wasn't something that _could_ be conveyed, but still he found himself standing there as Honda finally found his voice, spitting out a long delayed answer as he gestured at the carpet between them. "It's something about… okay, when you see a _friend_ who's happy, it's… it's _nice!_ It's really, really nice, and good, but… when you see someone you _love_ is happy?" he choked out, almost _pained_ before Atem's riveted gaze as he dove on. "And they're happy, either because of you, or at least _with_ you, or _around_ you, or you had some part in that happiness, it's…" he trailed off, a surprisingly blissful, even _dopey_ grin splashing over Honda's face for something only he could see.

It was laughable, really. Should have been hilarious.

Atem wasn't laughing.

He was waiting… suddenly and intensely worried that Honda didn't actually have words to finish his point.

But no, his friend finally shook his head, his expression sobering again as he looked _right at Atem._ "When it's that? You want to be _part of that._ To be part of that happiness. Because you want them to be happy with or without you, _yeah,_ but… you want to be _part of that, too."_

Atem… stared, caught with no reply, nothing to express, because he rightly and properly didn't know what to say.

And so, when Honda's expression finally softened and he asked, "Do you get that?" All Atem could do was shake his head.

"No, not really… but I can tell there's… a difference. Something special," he answered lamely, digging for a proper word and only coming up with the same one _Honda_ used earlier that evening.

And Honda accepted it, at least in part, because he _did_ nod… but he also narrowed his eyes, and asked, "So, you've never wanted to be part of someone's happiness?"

And Atem narrowed his right back. "I like being happy with all of _you–_ my _friends."_

But instead of looking thrown by the point, or like he doubted his own definition in the face of it, Honda just looked… oddly disappointed.

He only jolted out of his silent, strange judgment when Atem gave an emphatic "I mean it!"

"No, no, that's cool! It's just… that's not quite what _I_ meant."

Atem's mouth pulled tight as he considered his friend, his determined frown and uncertain eyes… before finally edging into a calm, but very pointed, clipped reply. "Honda… I get the feeling you're _trying_ to get me to say something. Or realize something. And honestly, I don't know what it is."

The other man remained silent for a long moment, clearly absorbing Atem's claim… then, without a single twitch of his expression, nodded. "Yeah, I kind of am."

Atem's features twitched with incredulous shock, but he did not let the feeling settle over his features. He kept his poker face, his confusion only showing in the pull of his eyebrows.

But rather than meet the silent intensity, Honda actually relaxed, shaking his head as he sighed and slumped back into the wall. "But it won't mean anything if I have to _tell_ you what it is, man. And if I have to, then it's probably not true to begin with, and I don't want to go putting ideas in your head. That's… not what I'm going for here."

And the stain of lost determination, of running into a dead end that marked Honda's voice? _That_ finally cut through Atem's resistance. He loosened and dropped his arms, and allowed his bewilderment to show openly before his friend.

And when Honda did nothing but smile awkwardly in the face of it, Atem just said, "You're not making any sense."

The brunette actually laughed, turning his smile up on the ceiling. "Yeah… You know, you and I have never really _talked_ before, and this was a really odd place to start."

Atem nodded… though in his head, he reflected that _he_ had never really felt that way with him– that they had never talked. But _he_ had had the benefit of watching Honda talk to Yuugi one-on-one countless times, while Honda's exposure to _him_ was… more limited.

There was no way Atem was going to disagree, however, that this was _bizarre._

Still, even as they both admitted that, Honda didn't excuse himself, or go to the bathroom.

And… oddest of all, perhaps, Atem didn't take advantage of the silence _to leave._

He just… couldn't. There was clearly _something_ Honda wanted to say to him, about love for friends and _not_ for friends, that he felt really strongly Atem should realize for himself, but… Atem just didn't _get it!_

But he couldn't walk away from the failure of leaving it unknown, either.

And so, after a few breaths of silently clenching his fists and watching Honda smile at the ceiling, _he_ spoke first.

"Want to… be part of someone's happiness?" he repeated, prompting Honda to blink his focus back to him, _focus_ on him, and finally nod.

"Yeah… You know, be the source of someone's happiness? Want to make them smile everyday, and be there when they smile, and just _be there_ for them, with them, and… you know, kissing and stuff, obviously." Honda's odd calm cracked with the last, an embarrassed grimace striking his face before he… actually sobered. He broke their gaze, looked down the hall as he scratched the back of his neck, but there was still calm sincerity to his voice as he admitted, "It's a pretty amazing feeling, having even the _hope_ of giving someone all of that, and getting it back in return. And… well, I can only imagine what it's _like_ , actually getting it. I can't speak for that."

And the guy was actually blushing.

And despite himself, Atem had to smile, relaxing under the sudden reminder of Yuugi, turning red and bright and ruffled when he teased him about _his_ feelings… and when Honda asked a defensive, "Is that weird?"

Atem shook his head. "No, that doesn't sound weird."

"Well, good," Honda grinned, only to grow serious again as he asked, "Then, do you get what I'm getting at?"

"No," Atem said, still smiling as he leaned back on a heel and stuck his hands in his jean pockets. "Clearly, you want me to understand love – romantic love – and what it's like to feel it, but I still don't know _why."_ His smiled ebbed, just a bit, as he pinned his gaze more sharply on his friend. "It's hard to believe this is all because we watched and talked about that movie."

Sometimes, it was easy to forget that _Honda_ had quite the poker face of his own. But he certainly used it then, as he looked back at Atem… his simple reply of, "I just don't want you to regret anything," offered without the slightest bit of inflection.

And if this had all been a game, Atem would have definitely lost.

Because his shock definitely must have shown on his face.

But Honda didn't even acknowledge it. He just peeled himself off of the wall, announced, "I'm gonna take a leak," and finally moved for the bathroom.

And Atem was too thrown to do anything but watch… and stare at the door after it closed.

…What was _that about?_

Atem shook his head, as if to shake the entire baffling mess from his mind, but it remained stubbornly hooked in his focus as he turned to go… and stumbled to a stop just a few steps away, glowering hard at the carpet before his feet.

 _What_ was that _about?_

In the end, Honda hadn't really… he really hadn't made any sense at all. _Sure,_ he knew Honda wanted him to get… something… but why had he been content to walk away when Atem still didn't understand? _He_ wasn't satisfied at all!

And really, when he thought back to what was said, Atem found he was right. He really… still didn't 'get' romance as Honda clearly wished him to. All of his examples had just… they just all sounded so similar to _friendship_ in Atem's mind. To things he had known in the bonds he already cherished.

…Except for the kissing 'and stuff' of course.

He huffed, pressing his fingers to the space between his eyebrows.

His head was killing him.

"You alright?"

His head jerked up, his shoulders and body already relaxing before his mind even processed and recognized the voice, or saw the boy standing at the end of the hall.

Yuugi.

As soon as they met eyes and a smile struck Atem's face, Yuugi moved, closing the distance between them… his brow creasing tight as he stalled just a foot away.

Atem shook his head, finally allowing at least a _fraction_ of weariness to touch his voice amid his reassurance. "Yeah… I'm fine. The movie just messed with my head a little."

The movie and Honda.

Yuugi's eyebrows shot up with a twitch of surprise for that explanation– only to smooth out again as his eyes grew sharp again. Sharp, and knowing. "Then… it's not your _own_ head messing with you?"

Atem tensed back into a quiet shock, question plastered across his face.

What…?

Finally, his partner relaxed into himself a bit, humor tugging at his mouth as he reached into his pocket… and held out what he found there, never taking his grin off of Atem. "I got some painkillers from Bakura-kun."

Atem blinked at the bottle pushed under his nose… and slowly eased back into a smile.

Of course.

"You noticed, then?"

Yuugi nodded, a stagnant trouble disturbing his own quiet cheer. "And I know you must have been in a lot of pain, since I did."

Atem sighed through a closed mouth, and reached for the bottle– looked at _it,_ and not his partner, as he said, "I didn't want to worry you," acknowledging the truth in the bargain.

But Yuugi didn't let him move back. His just freed hand zipped out and caught his retreating hand.

Atem's breath caught in his throat at the unexpected contact of cool, quickly warming skin, and looked up– into a crisp plum gaze that pierced his own.

"It worries me more when you try to hide stuff like this."

…It would have been easy to tense, pull away, and get defensive if Yuugi was actually _angry,_ or lecturing him. But his calm, distressed sincerity cut through any such protection, leaving Atem powerless to do _anything_ but drop his eyes, and accept Yuugi's words for what they simply were… the truth.

But before it could sit too heavily on his chest, Yuugi released him, only to lean into the space cleared by their dropped hands.

…Atem couldn't avoid Yuugi's gaze when he leaned into his field of vision like that.

Wouldn't have, really, even if he had been capable.

And when he obligingly met his eye again? Yuugi smiled. "But, _as for_ the movie– is it anything you want to talk about?"

…Atem's lips slowly stretched in a smile again as he breathed easy.

Yuugi was letting it go.

Such a little thing, and yet that tiny drop of gratitude trickled into an ocean already overflowing, and Atem let it wash over him as he smiled down into that face… watched Yuugi's own expression soften in return… then reached up and tapped the bottom of the pill bottle against Yuugi's brow.

The boy jerked back like he had been shot, and rubbed the spot as his nose and mouth wrinkled up, cheeks turning red with clear embarrassment.

And all Atem could do was bubble up with a laugh and call it adorable– in his own head, at least.

"Not right now, no. But maybe later," he allowed, smiling through the glower Yuugi shot him.

His partner huffed incredulously, but finally offered an allowing "Okay…" shooting him only a quick, disgruntled look before turning back the way he had come. "Come on, you should get a drink to take that medicine. And I hid a piece of cake for you, so Jounouchi-kun wouldn't eat it."

Atem nodded and started to follow, only to come up short two steps later as he realized… "You're not going to the bathroom?"

"Huh?" Yuugi spun on a heel to shoot him a slack-faced look… only to relax into an easy shrug. "Oh, no. I just came for you." And with that, he turned to go.

Atem didn't follow at first, mind caught in a quiet, abstract marvel… before a smile finally teased its way onto his face.

He followed his partner without another word.


	9. Chapter 9

**Title** : Reconfiguration  
 **Summary:** A few minutes delay is all it takes to change the course of lives, and Atem is not certain if he should thank the gods or curse them for this shift in his destiny. For what did it mean for his fate, this chance to know the world again in his own flesh? What good might come from this chance to linger so solidly in a world he was meant to leave? [Puzzleshipping, Canon Branch-Off]  
 **Rating:** **T** for Teen.  
 **Author:** Phoebe Delos  
 **Fandom:** Yu-Gi-Oh! DM  
 **Spoilers:** Pretty much the full series (manga edition).  
 **Disclaimer:** Yu-Gi-Oh! isn't mine. Neither are any of the games I mentioned in here.  
 **Notes:** Whelp, I think any sense of a consistent release schedule is now void, buuuut here- have the longest chapter I've ever written?

 **:: Monday, June 22 ::**

"Can't sleep?"

The quiet thud of dice hitting cement stalled as Atem looked up and saw Yuugi standing in the shadow of the open balcony door.

He smiled on sight, watched his partner slip outside and shut the glass door behind him, then whispered back, "How did you know I was out here? You can't see me from the living room." And it was well past midnight, so his partner _should_ be sleeping, just like everyone else.

Just like him.

But Yuugi looked surprisingly alert as he settled on the ground beside him, crossing his legs and leaning back against the painted brick wall in a perfect mirror of the other's own position, so close that their knees brushed through the light fabric of their pajama pants– Yuugi's light blue against Atem's borrowed print of yellow stars. Atem gave the contact only a passing glance before he felt Yuugi's knowing eye burning on the side of his face.

As soon as he looked back up, his partner explained, "I went to the bathroom and saw your sleeping bag was empty, and I thought– if you were sitting up anywhere, it would be where you could see the stars."

Atem sniffed at his own apparent predictability, relaxing his head back against the bricks to peer out at the blank, grey sky spanning out beyond the metal rail. "You can't see stars in the city, _aibou."_

"Oh? Then why do you like looking out of my skylight so much?"

Atem peeked at his partner out of the corner of his eye, and saw Yuugi doing the exact same thing with a satisfied little grin. Atem felt his own mouth twitch with the urge to mimic him, and he focused forward again, his hand busying itself again with rolling the dice Bakura had gifted him as he replied, "Well, _you found me._ Does that mean you're going back to sleep?"

"Only if you are."

Atem stalled his rolling and looked up at his partner properly, unable and _unwilling_ to ignore the challenge in his voice.

Yuugi's gaze was as welcoming as always, but even in the dim shadows of the balcony, Atem could see the concern in his eyes… and he breathed out the impulse to conceal.

"I was restless," he admitted, smiling against the confession. "I couldn't sleep, and I felt stifled inside since I couldn't move around without waking someone up."

"You're not moving much now," Yuugi observed, regarding Atem's easy posture with a light eye… until his expression fogged back over with a frown. "It's not your head again, is it?"

"Hmm? Oh, no. I took another dose before we went to bed, and it must be working fine. It hasn't bothered me since dinner."

Yuugi nodded, though his shoulders relaxed only a touch. "Still, it's weird that it was hurting in the first place. You could be getting sick."

"It was just a headache, _aibou,"_ Atem dismissed, though his chest swelled pleasantly at his partner's show of concern. He tried to hand the feeling back to him on a glance, and Yuugi's furrowed brow smoothed out under Atem's simple, "It happens to everyone sometimes."

Yuugi hummed, seemingly content with the argument, but opaque considerations floated within his violet eyes… until he finally found his voice enough to ask, "Then why are you out here?"

Atem sighed out a nonexistent tension through his nose and let his head roll back against the wall, his eyes falling to the violet dice caught between his fingers… mindlessly turning them back and forth to catch the street lights as he considered. Was it wise to give those concerns voice? They were trivial at best, and the most troubling point _about_ them was they troubled Atem at _all–_ at least enough to keep his ever evasive rest out of reach. There was nothing to be gained from speaking of this, so the most practical course of action was surely to dismiss the subject, not indulge it.

But when he looked up to do just that? Tell Yuugi it was nothing?

He saw it there in his partner's eyes– a disquiet, layered beneath attentive, polite curiosity.

Yuugi was worried about him.

Mildly, uncertainly so, but Atem could see the shift that would come as assuredly as if he had already spoken. If Atem dismissed this, Yuugi would wonder. He would consider possibilities, weigh them in his mind and strive to deny the worst of them, in vain. He would assume Atem was hiding something so as not to worry him… and thus worry. Atem could laugh at the inevitability of it, sentimental amusement bubbling up where frustration rightly should have, and his rising smile only spread wide when he saw Yuugi's frown fade into a confused blink.

Well enough, then. If humoring this silliness a little longer would grant his partner some peace of mind– "Do you remember what I said earlier? About the movie messing with my head?"

"What are you… Oh!" Yuugi cried out, only to snap his mouth shut and glance anxiously at the glass door. Atem followed his gaze, but the seconds ticked by and no one appeared. If Yuugi had been heard at all, none of their sleeping friends must know where to look for them, at least. Which was just as well, as Atem wasn't interested in anyone else hearing what was said as Yuugi turned back and quietly asked, "Yeah… are you ready to talk about it, then? About what bothered you about it?"

"If you like," Atem offered, his ease re-finding itself under Yuugi's refound attention. "Though, it was never really about the movie. It was more something Honda said to me about it."

"What Honda-kun said? What… _oh,"_ Yuugi repeated, the word not a yelp this time, but a whisper, and even in the half-light Atem could see his partner's cheeks flushing beneath instantly wide, caught eyes. "You mean… what he said after the movie? About love?"

It was all too tempting to let that word hang in the air unanswered, as Yuugi fidgeted so hilariously under the weight of it. But Atem indulged himself only a _few_ bare seconds before ending the teen's misery. "We spoke more about it later, but yes. Basically."

Yuugi nodded, not quite meeting his eye as he asked, "What about it? What did he say that's bothering you?"

Atem expected the question, and yet he frowned with the asking, his mouth pursing flat under Yuugi's returned focus… and he found _he_ couldn't meet his partner's eye as he admitted, "He asked if I understood the difference between the friendship featured in the book, and the romance in the movie." And he didn't know why saying so troubled him. He had all but admitted to that uncertainty after the movie, in front of everyone. But still Atem found himself staring at their knees… his right brushing Yuugi's left as _he_ shifted restlessly.

Yuugi's though had finally gone completely still, his constant fidgets gone. And when Atem followed the line of the attached leg up to his partner's face, he saw Yuugi was frowning, face scrunched in caught confusion as he stared at the balcony rail, until… "But you've never read the book, right? So how would you know?"

Atem– he surprised _himself,_ much less his partner, when a laugh caught in his throat and hummed out long enough to be heard before he swallowed it back. "I think he meant the point as a general example."

"Well, that's stupid!"

Yuugi remembered himself enough to not _yell_ again, but Atem still stared, taken aback by the impatient vehemence of the hushed outburst. And Yuugi seemed to realize it himself, as he blanched in the face of Atem's arched brow. "Oh, _is it?"_

"Well, _yeah!_ I mean–" Yuugi grimaced, pinched his lips around some raw reaction until he finally squashed it down into an uncomfortable, stumbling, but still calm, "I mean, no offense to Honda-kun, but… one friendship's not the same as another, right? I mean…" He was gesturing, raising his hands to mime some meaning his words struggled to convey, but after a couple of tries he gave up on that, too. Instead he sighed, shifting to face him a little more directly as he waved vaguely between them, apparently finding a steadying courage in Atem's quiet, unexpectedly transfixed stare. "For instance, my friendship with _him,_ versus my friendship with _Jounouchi-kun,_ versus Bakura-kun and Otogi-kun and Anzu-chan, and _you?_ Those are all _friendships,_ yes, but they're not the same. Each one is special. So, how can there be one set of differences between _that_ and romantic love? And… and from everything I've seen, people in love can feel different ways about each other, too. How one person feels might not be the same as another, but it can still be romantic love for both. There's no set of rules for that, either."

He was correct. Atem understood the bare facts at least that far, and Yuugi was certainly right to say one relationship never mimicked another, be it friendship _or_ romance. But Atem was _also_ well informed enough to suggest, "I think _attraction_ at least is supposed to be a constant with 'movie' love– romantic feelings, and not with friendship," with a fair amount of confidence.

To his surprise, though, even if his partner _did_ blush again, Yuugi actually _countered_ him, shooting him a sharp, pointed look as he said, "You can be _attracted_ to a friend, and it not be romance."

That… sounded right.

Atem couldn't say why as the claim initially shocked him, but he blinked through the thought… and it rang true on some intuitive level. But the fact remained that Yuugi looked visibly uncomfortable as he said it, and he only glowered harder as he went on, dropping his gaze to his feet. "It just… doesn't add up instantly, trust me. Attraction might be a part of 'movie' love, yeah, and I've at least never _heard_ of romantic love without that, sure, but who knows! And either way, being attracted to a friend doesn't mean you're _in love_ with them, and… let's say it even _did._ Being romantically in love with a friend? That wouldn't _negate_ the friendship part, right?"

…

This was personal.

Whatever Yuugi was thinking of, he was speaking from a _very_ personal point of view.

And the obvious given of _who_ he must be thinking of drew a wan smile from the pharaoh, but it was sour from the first due to the obvious melancholy in his partner's mind.

Why did the subject trouble Yuugi so?

But his partner was talking in generalities, and if he didn't want to say names? Atem wouldn't either. He just replied to the question as it was, offering an agreeable, "I wouldn't think so, no."

And Yuugi latched onto it, his bright, shot eyes jumping back to him as he quietly exclaimed, "Then that just backs what I mean even more! If you can feel _both_ at once, where is the line between them? What do you feel as a friend, and not as a friend? And if you can be attracted to a friend without it being romantic at _all,_ it _can't_ be a defining point between 'movie love' and 'book love' as you put it. So… it… it can all just get really tangled up, you know? When you try to say things like 'that means it's just friendship' or 'you're obviously in love' in a general sense? That doesn't work. You have to take each case alone, and just ask the people involved how they feel… right?" He finished the insistent argument on a question, a _doubt,_ his expression clouding over with uncertainty for his own claims.

And all Atem could do was smile, because… did Yuugi not realize he was just _backing_ the logic of his confusion?

But he didn't ask. He just shook his head, and pointed out, "I think Honda's entire point was I _don't_ know, even in my own case."

The storm in Yuugi's face cleared, gave way to a quiet sea of soft, damp, unsteady understanding. _"Oh…_ Then Honda-kun was actually afraid that you don't know what _you_ feel? Because… if you don't understand romantic love, you can't pick that out from attraction or friendship with… what _you_ feel?"

"I understand what it _is,_ but… no, I doubt I could pinpoint the differences if I had to," Atem admitted, quietly amazed by his partner's consideration and patience to go along with this odd, out-of-nowhere topic, even as he shot the teen a half-fond, half-teasing grin. "But going by _that_ explanation you just gave me, it seems I'm not the only one who struggles with that."

Yuugi blinked twice, _three_ times… then grinned back, snickering to himself as he looked off into the night. "Yeah, I guess. But like I said, naming it is different from _feeling_ it, and… honestly, _mou hitori no boku?"_ He sighed, scratching his cheek before turning far lighter, less troubled eyes back on Atem. "I think the mistake here is thinking you're weird for not knowing any of this, even _for_ yourself. To tell the truth, I think most people struggle with defining stuff like this, even explaining the difference in what _they_ feel, at least in words. It's just… we take it for granted because we have the chance to stumble through it, and figure it out naturally. _Without_ words, you know? I… think that's why it's supposed to be such a given. Why people act weird if you actually ask for explanations. We don't _have_ explanations. We just…" He shrugged, grinning a humble grin as he let his hand drop. "We learn. By experience."

Somewhere along the way, Atem shifted. His legs stretched out until one lay flat as the other bent at the knee, so he could lean his elbow on it… and his chin against his knuckles, the better to meet his partner's gaze as he spoke. Watch him, and marvel at the shifting colors of Yuugi's expression as he eased into his own answer, and offered it to Atem in turn.

It was a gift Atem accepted with warm eyes, finding _himself_ oddly content to dredge up the unknowns of his heart in the face of Yuugi's earnest efforts, to ask, "Then, you think my situation is to blame for my ignorance? That if I had the chance, it would all come naturally with time?"

And it was a testament to his partner's sincerity that he handed him back no false assurances. Just another shrug, an easy smile, and a modest, "Maybe?"

And Atem shook his head, a chuckle on his tongue and a certainty in his head that it was more complicated than Yuugi likely even knew. Whatever the truth may be with this debate, romance or friendship, books or movies, Atem knew _something_ was off as far as the _attraction_ factor went… at least for him. While other factors might take time, and chance, and a bit of luck, he had seen enough, watched Yuugi and Jounouchi and Honda and Anzu and countless others more than enough to know that _that_ was supposed to be near instantaneous. And yet Atem had never felt an urge to blush over or stare at someone as others did, and even his friends had noticed the oddity of it sometimes, even if they didn't know it. Jounouchi, for instance? He had been _baffled_ when Atem hadn't noticed that that Mayumi girl was 'hot', but he really _hadn't_ noticed! Had _never_ noticed something like that with _anyone,_ before _or_ after getting this new-old body. And without _that…_ was anything but friendship even possible?

…But then, perhaps that lack was just a consequence of his time spent as a spirit, too? Did he… did he have to learn how to feel things like _that,_ too?

…Honestly, it was kind of a relief he wasn't interested in finding out.

And as such, Atem felt no urge to mention anything of the sort, even to his partner. He simply accepted Yuugi's answer, and met it with an easy, "Either way, I wouldn't call any of this a big deal. The only reason it troubled me at all was Honda seemed to think I am missing something critical with my confusion. That I'm making some sort of mistake."

And when Honda had all but said so, he had seem so… _concerned._

That was the heart of the problem, when it came down to it. _Something_ had prompted that scene, Honda spouting nonsense in Bakura's hallway with worry in his eyes. Something _Atem_ had done, and whatever it was went far beyond a couple confused comments about the value of romance and its portrayal in a movie. But… what? What could bring Honda to him saying such things? What had he been trying to get _him_ to say? To see? It was definitely something more than a philosophical point on feelings, that was for sure. It was like Honda was trying to open his eyes to something… Something having to do with romantic feelings.

But… was it supposed to be something Atem didn't understand about _himself?_ Or… was it something he was missing in someone _else?_

A face flashed through Atem's mind, and a grim weight set heavy in his gut.

He certainly hoped Honda wasn't referring to _her._ However blind he may or may _not_ be, Atem was not ignorant of _her_ feelings, and no amount of awareness on his part would help there _,_ or convince him to fear the regret of doing nothing _._ Whatever the truth may be, Atem would end up hurting more than one person by even _acknowledging_ those feelings, and he would avoid whatever hurt he could, if he could help it… especially when one of the hearts on the line was almost certainly his partner's _._

Yuugi just the thought brought Atem's focus back to him.

The boy was frowning at the ground, a dreary sort of confusion in his gaze, but it was gone in a blink when Atem asked, "Do you think I am?"

"Think you're… what?"

"Making some sort of mistake somewhere, related to the whole movie-romantic love thing?" Atem probably wouldn't change a thing even if he _were,_ but if his partner had some insight that could shed light on Honda's thinking–

But Yuugi jerked upright as he processed the question, his face burning an impressive red as he glared and hissed, "Why would I know any better?!"

Atem arched both brows for the shockingly defensive reply, wondering if he should be amused or alarmed. "I think you would at least know better than _I_ would."

"I don't know that! I know…" Yuugi turned his face away, shifted to pull his knees up to his chest and hug them there, drawing another twitch of frowning concern from Atem in the process. "I know _you know_ that _I've_ felt that before, but I don't know if _you_ have."

 _Felt_ that… _before?_

The words echoed through Atem's head, bounced about oddly, but did not settle in his mind long enough to distract him from frowning at the profile of Yuugi's face, or insisting, _"Aibou,_ if _anyone_ has an idea of what I've felt…" The point trailed off, caught in his throat with what Atem thought _had_ to be a given. But when Yuugi finally looked at him, it was with a wary question in his eye, and the other could only shake his head and accept that it would have to be said. "Most people might not get that kind of insight, but tied as we were? You witnessed nearly everything I went through and remember, and what I felt. Just as I did for you." And if _he_ knew such intimate details of Yuugi's own feelings, surely it worked the other way around.

And indeed, his partner's expression smoothed out at his argument, his posture loosening as he considered… but still he hugged his knees as he spoke. "I suppose so, but even when I _could_ feel what you felt, it was more like… colors than words?" And Yuugi's eyes flicked back to his, asking silently if that made sense… and he smiled.

Because Atem was smiling.

Because even if the term _colors_ had never occurred to him before, he knew exactly what Yuugi was referring to… the flow of emotions that had connected them for months, running between them like… like an IV, feeding precious life's blood from one heart to another in a mutual, constant feed.

A connection that was now closed, cut off, but when Atem looked at Yuugi and saw that same sweet memory hanging in his eyes?

For a moment, it was like it was still there…

And he was smiling and his chest was humming and it was far, far too tempting to just keep hanging in that moment… but even as Yuugi lingered there with him, he whispered on, so quiet it was like he was loathe to break the silence. "And if I… if I _recognized_ the feeling, then yeah, I could name it. But I remember lots of times I felt you feeling something, but I had no idea what it was. Didn't even know if it was a good feeling or a bad one. So, even with us, wouldn't _you_ still be the one to know better? Shouldn't _you_ be saying for yourself what you have or haven't felt?"

Yuugi had found such confidence in their gaze that even _Atem_ was lulled into an easy ease with the discussion, hearing every word and understanding each one but never balking or stumbling at the meaning. Even when his partner fell silent with his questions and Atem stumbled for an answer, he frowned more from a struggle for words than a hesitance to reply. "…I know what I feel, and that I'm the only one who could truly know what is in my own heart. But… that doesn't mean I have the right words to name those feelings, either. Sometimes, they're just 'colors' for me, too."

Yuugi's complacent features scrunched tight with slowly rising confusion, culminating in a quiet retort of, "But, you said you know what romantic love is, so…"

"I know what it looks like, but I don't know what it _feels_ like. Not enough to feel it and say, 'Ah, that's it. That's _movie_ love that I'm feeling.'" Atem gestured vaguely with the faux revelation, mimicking a marveling expression that dissolved Yuugi's expression into a snorting, silly grin that he quickly mirrored– only to drop it with a shake of his head, letting his arm fall back to the ground between them as he went on. "And so, unless it just _happens_ and you 'know it' when you feel it–"

"You can't be sure if what you've felt was ever _that_ or not," Yuugi finished, earning a nod in return.

"Exactly." An odd satisfaction settled low in Atem's belly. All of this might be soundly academic, but it was still amazingly validating to hear his partner understand his confusion for what it was– that he even _could_ understand what it was. Atem had been fairly resigned to a permanent, abstract confusion on the matter, and while he had made easy peace with that? He found himself seduced by the unexpected recognition, and greedy for more. And without any reason in sight for temperance, he gave freely into that impulse, shooting Yuugi a curious eye as he asked, "So, does it? Just happen? Or _can_ you feel it without even knowing what it is?"

Yuugi… he didn't recoil or spaz at the inquiry. No, this time he grew… _quiet,_ in expression and posture as well as voice. And Atem knew the look well. It was the look of his partner retreating into himself, curling tight around some thought or feeling in a fierce effort to understand it. Contain it. Hide it.

The latter was often a source of _alarm_ for the former spirit, but he felt no such need for concern now. No, context was evidence enough that Yuugi was simply taking his answer very, very seriously, and Atem felt no urge to disturb him. He simply watched, expressing his gratitude through patience, until Yuugi _finally…_ shook his head, tilting it to rest his chin upon his arms as he shrugged at his once other self. "I don't know if there's a single answer for that. Sometimes? Maybe? But… either way, if you _felt_ it, but didn't know it or act on it, or even _react_ to it, then you haven't really experienced it anyways, right?"

Atem considered that, then shrugged in turn, an untroubled uncertainty marking his voice. "I suppose not. Not unless you think the feeling, even unrecognized, has its own merit."

"I don't know… but even if it does, it's hard to imagine getting any happiness out of it like that."

Happiness…

If Honda was right, then happiness was supposed to be _inherent_ to this, somehow. Could that feeling really exist _without_ happiness, then?

Atem didn't know. Didn't understand his own train of thought enough to voice the argument to Yuugi. Even considering the thought was confusing, and–

"Sorry." Atem looked over and… saw Yuugi staring at him, a heavy, troubling apology within his smile. "I haven't been much help, have I?"

The former pharaoh froze, caught off guard, his mind flying wild and scattered in the face of his partner's contrition– and then old impulses took over, and he smirked through his own alarm, letting the wonder and gratitude he felt rise up in his gaze and voice. "Nonsense, _aibou._ You made a _lot_ of things clearer than before. Sure, I'm still uncertain what any of it means for me, but it doesn't matter. Whatever's true, I don't care if I don't understand all of my own feelings. I only brought this up in the first place because I wanted to understand Honda's concerns."

Yuugi had tucked his chin tight behind his forearm when he apologized, but as Atem talked the boy's face slowly lifted up until he was blinking at eye level again, the shift in his expression uncoiling the tension in Atem's gut. "Really? Then you don't regret never having a chance to learn this stuff… _naturally?"_

Atem snorted, grinning through his partner's clear embarrassment for the allusion. "Not at all. I know I haven't enjoyed certain 'normal' bonds in my time as a spirit." And despite this whole talk, even if he _did_ feel that way about someone and know it, he wouldn't _act_ on it as Yuugi put it, so it didn't matter. "But I still have bonds that I can call all my own… and I have gotten to know someone in a way that's all my own, too."

And _finally_ Yuugi was smiling again, unfolding his legs from his chest to sit back properly, legs stretched out and hands to the ground supporting him as he relaxed and chirped a cheery, "Right! Our friendships _are_ pretty unique and one-of-a-"

"I meant _you."_

Yuugi's mouth snapped shut. He stared at Atem, speechless… but the other just kept smiling, his partner's shock merely molding his gaze into something warmer, unabashedly fond, even as he kept his tone light and his words teasing. "I don't think many people get to ever have a partner, you know. And I don't need any definitions or words to know how special that is."

Because at the end of the day, even as Atem treasured each and every one of his friends?

There would only ever be one Yuugi.

And Yuugi opened his mouth to reply… only to come up with nothing. His eyes spoke freely though of shot-through sweetness and feelings that could easily bubble up as tears. But they didn't. Only his expression and twisted smile spoke of crying as he beamed wordlessly at the space between their legs, where their hands lingered side-by-side.

And Atem watched it all with a silent heart, as if from a distance, but still soundly and undeniably _there,_ brimming over with a peace that had no name, _smiling…_ and grinning wide when Yuugi suddenly nudged him in the shoulder, breaking the silence with a bashful, washed-through, "I guess not, but then there aren't too many people who get to say they had another self, either."

"Exactly!" Atem agreed, shining with the thrill of so clearly touching his partner… only to dim just as quickly when he saw Yuugi's smile, still pointed at their hands, and something chimed _wrong._

He went still, silent, watched… and Yuugi didn't seem to notice. He was too caught in some thought that clouded his expression even as Atem watched, fogging it over… obscuring it with shadows that had nothing to do with the night.

"What?"

Yuugi blinked, came visibly back to himself, but the gaze he offered Atem was blank, and filmed over… and he soon shook his head, trying for another smile. "Nothing."

"I can see it's not _nothing,_ so what is it?"

His demand was gentle, but still insistent enough that Yuugi _did_ open his mouth as if to reply… but a frown started in his eyes and spilled over across his face, and he turned it away, looking at his lap.

And the sight clogged up Atem's throat until he dropped the dice still caught in his hand, and replaced them with his partner's wrist.

Yuugi sucked in a breath and his arm twitched, but he did not truly tense or pull away, so Atem firmed his grip and held fast, cradling the thin bones between his fingers. He caught his partner's eye when Yuugi impulsively looked up, stared at him. And Atem ignored the blank shock he saw there and his _own_ tight chest to insist, "You don't have to say if you don't want to, but I can't pretend not to see you're upset. So, if you're willing to tell me, _please._ Tell me."

Nothing came out when Yuugi opened his mouth, but Atem read the concession in his eyes all the same, and waited as he swallowed and sought words from nothing, eyes dropping to Atem's chest… to where the Puzzle would be, if he hadn't left it on his pillow back in the living room. "I guess," he began on a sigh, somehow wilting and tensing in the same breath. "It's just that… there's been something on _my_ mind, too, and… I know it's been happening kind of naturally, under the circumstances, but…"

…And he went silent. Yuugi's face contorted around some emotion too sharp to swallow easily, and Atem couldn't move. Couldn't look away _, or speak,_ save to utter a quiet, simple "What?" when the silence dragged on too long to stand.

And Yuugi finally found the will to speak by looking away and sucking in a breath that pounded through Atem's head like a scream. "Y– you're not–" he started, only to squeeze his eyes tight… and slowly face him again, his gaze calm and steady but resigned in a way that only raked over Atem's nerves the worse. "You're not…" Yuugi began again, motioning between them with a hand– the one Atem wasn't clutching like a lifeline. _"We're_ not… you're not the 'other Yuugi' anymore, right?"

Atem didn't answer.

Just _stared_ as Yuugi quietly added, "So, you're not really _mou hitori no boku_ anymore, either."

…He didn't know what Yuugi might have seen, looking at him. Likely nothing, for surely no expression could capture the way his heart froze at the suggestion. But… there must have been _something_ visible, for Yuugi slowly… started to smile, a sad, forlorn thing that Atem wanted to deny as much as that truth. "I get that," Yuugi whispered, as if that was supposed to comfort him. "It needs to happen, I know."

…There was nothing to say. Nothing… Atem _should_ say. And it wasn't a new sensation by any means. Moments like this had struck time and again, ever since… ever since that fire. Moments where agreeing would hurt. Confirming this _separation_ would hurt, and denying it? That would hurt too, if only later. And pretending he was happy about it, _that_ would hurt, and _telling the truth…_ that would surely hurt most of all.

And so, in the end, all Atem could do was stare into Yuugi's excruciating smile… and offer a smile back. "That doesn't change what _has_ been true," he assured, voice little more than a whisper as he pulsed the lightest breath of pressure over his partner's wrist. "It's already happened though, you know," he claimed, warm, sweet pride rolling his grin into something true as he watched his partner blink into uncertain wonder. "There is no 'needs to' about it. You already _are_ the only Yuugi. Always were, really, and as long as you remember that, I don't mind what you call me."

Because that was it. That was as near as Atem would allow himself to that selfish wish.

To not lose the name only Yuugi called him.

Though Atem felt no qualms whatsoever about meeting Yuugi's wary, relieved gaze with an open smirk and saying, "I certainly don't plan to stop calling you _aibou,_ after all!"

Yuugi– he laughed.

He actually laughed, tugging his wrist free to cover the noise with both hands as Atem beamed at him– only to blink into a blank stillness when Yuugi recovered and reinstated the contact, clutching the back of _his_ hand. "Good, because calling me _Yuugi_ at this point would be just plain weird! Though, if you wanted to do that _sometimes,_ that might be okay, too."

And whatever the surprise in his dusty mind, Atem had to match the grin Yuugi shot him, turn his hand and clutch right back as he offered a simple, "I will keep that in mind."

Yuugi nodded, seemingly satisfied… only to blink into an oddly surprised expression, and finally shake his head. "This is all _really_ off-topic, you know."

For a moment, Atem was honestly not sure what his partner meant… but somewhere amidst Yuugi's grin, the memories clicked back into place, and the former pharaoh traded his confused stares for a head shake of his own. "I suppose it is."

"And this is definitely not conducive to sleep."

"That so? Then why don't you stop talking to me, and go back to bed?"

"Eh, I will if you will," Yuugi allowed, eyeing him with a bright, cheerful challenge. "We're the same, after all. You have to get up early to eat breakfast with the others, just like me. So, if _you_ can stay up despite that, so can I."

There was no good argument for that, and so – after determinedly _trying_ to think of one – Atem simply leaned back against the bricks and shot him a quiet, "Stubborn."

Yuugi's grin didn't let up an inch, sharp violets following Atem's shifting as he asked, "Do you think I get that from you?"

"Hah, don't even _try_ to put that on me, _aibou._ You were stubborn long before I came along."

"Yup! And don't you forget it!"

Atem coughed with the force of his reaction before finally breaking down into a proper, if stifled laugh, the sound coming out more as hisses and huffs than a chuckle. "That doesn't make any sense!"

"It doesn't have to," Yuugi insisted, tone all sage wisdom and arrogance. "I'm right."

Atem sniffed as his broken laughter came to an end, leaving him leaning weary but happy against the wall with his eyes shut, a faint smile on his face. "You do realize it's well past midnight, right?"

"Ah, so you _can_ tell time."

Atem pried one eye open to shoot his partner a _look,_ and Yuugi dissolved into a spray of muffled giggles, shifting to lean back himself once more as he mumbled a soft, "Sorry."

He clearly wasn't sorry at _all,_ but then Atem had never been annoyed, either, so he found it all too easy to let his glare go as his partner huddled in close to his side. "It's fine."

Yuugi hummed some noncommittal, content thing, and Atem relaxed, his gaze sliding once more to the balcony rail, and the cityscape and night sky beyond… feeling no urge to break the silence by rising or leaving.

Logically speaking, they should be following his own advice, and retreating to bed. For Yuugi was right, they _should_ be asleep. And, given the quiet that fell between them, neither had much else to say worthy of delaying that rest.

But, even if Atem _did_ relent and linger? Or Yuugi _wasn't_ ready to go? He did know one thing. Atem would much rather pass the time appreciating Yuugi's company than wasting it bickering over nothing, or worrying his partner, or trying to figure out something he could just ask Honda about later– or, _better yet,_ let go of entirely. After all, he wasn't going to do anything with the answer anyways, once he had it. Thinking about it and talking about it was just an exercise in futility, running around in his own head for no good reason.

But then, that was the trouble, wasn't it? Atem was _thinking_ too much, as Sugoroku so often liked to put it during shop hours, when he brought up some puzzle that was bothering him. Atem was letting the failure of not knowing a solution seduce him into worrying too much and thinking too much about things that… really didn't matter.

Not to him.

…And now he was thinking about how he shouldn't be thinking about it.

Atem huffed out a sigh and opened his eyes to peer to Yuugi, ready to pack it in for the night and put this whole thing soundly to bed.

Except… when he moved to say so, he saw his partner's face.

Yuugi's eyes were shut.

Atem stared, utterly still… but no matter how long he waited, Yuugi didn't open his eyes. And as Atem climbed back out of the depths of his own head, he realized that his partner was… leaning into his side. _Slouching_ more like, shoulder and elbow and hip all practically digging into Atem's arm, and… and his head wasn't _touching_ him, but it was turned in his direction.

As if Yuugi had fallen asleep, looking at him.

And Atem looked at _him,_ faint shock mingling with mute fascination as he realized, if he just _focused_ on it, he could feel Yuugi's breath against his chin.

…

His lips twitched, stretched slow and wondering into a smile as he stared… before he shifted his hand beneath Yuugi's, tapped a thumb across his knuckles.

If he had to wake him back up, there was no need to be jarring about it.

But Yuugi's doze must have been deeper than Atem thought, for he didn't wake.

Just smiled.

And Atem's touch stilled, a warmth welling up in his chest that he could only name _relief._

He had been worried… _afraid._ Afraid that he had upset Yuugi with their talk. Especially towards the end, when they spoke of _them._ After _that,_ Atem wouldn't have been shocked at all if his partner was just hiding his distress by joking around and smiling for him.

But no… it would be impossible for Yuugi to take that cover into his sleep, and here he was. Unconscious, open, vulnerable, honest, and _smiling._

And Atem couldn't help but lean back, shut his eyes, and deflate with his own relief, because… because he was okay. Yuugi was truly okay.

Which was good, because no _matter what,_ Atem needed things to be okay with Yuugi. To be good between them. Because that was what mattered to him. Because _yes,_ he _was_ concerned what he had done to worry Honda, but at the end of the day? Weird horror movies, odd comments from well-meaning friends, and even the mysteries of the human heart and what made it pulse? That was all irrelevant next to what _really_ mattered to Atem, and… and well okay, a _lot_ of stuff mattered to Atem, sure. Finish what he started, make sure Zorc never showed his face again, bring no trouble to the Mutous while he waited for that to be possible, enjoy his time with his friends _while_ he waited for that to be possible…

But, right then? In that moment?

What came to mind most of all when Atem thought 'what matters to me' was _Yuugi,_ and being with him, and making him smile. Finding new ways to _make_ him smile, and express how happy _he_ made _him,_ so that Yuugi would never doubt it… Yes, that was a _way_ better use of his time. And Atem certainly shouldn't be upsetting Yuugi by reminding him how things had changed between them, how he would be leaving, or… giving him nightmares.

Atem frowned as he recalled _that night,_ finding his partner crying in his sleep… only to jerk when he realized _far too belatedly_ that he was squeezing Yuugi's hand.

He loosened his grip immediately, but _that_ seemed to disturb his partner far more than the clenching had, as he sniffled and shifted against the wall… then went still again.

And the tension dropped out of Atem's shoulders as he sighed… his gaze falling thoughtfully to the hand he was still holding.

The hand he _could_ hold.

 _…_ _Honestly,_ he really _was_ wasting a golden opportunity.

Atem _wasn't a spirit anymore_ , and he should be _using_ that fact! Using it to… to share new things with his partner. Visit places together, try new things, play games they never could before. Make new memories, as Yuugi put it. And… and Atem was loving every minute of it, spending time with all of their friends. But when it came down to it? He had had a lot of chances in the past to hang out with everyone _else,_ go to class and have lunch and play at the arcade. But the part that was really, truly _new_ to him was what he could do with _Yuugi._

Because sure, they had shared countless wonderful moments together already, but now that Atem was his own person? There nearly all of the time, _visible_ and _at his partner's side,_ rather than within him? Yuugi was directing more and more of his smiles _at him,_ where Atem could see and appreciate them properly, and not just as feedback of the heart. And that… that was a treasure he had never expected to find. Because yes, he had been blessed for _years,_ gotten to see Yuugi's happiness from the _inside_ that whole time, but now? Now he had a chance to see it from the _outside,_ with his _own eyes._ And to be a real, present part of what _made_ Yuugi happy everyday? That was… that was wonderful… and it felt better than he could have ever imagined. It was _amazing,_ and he could revel in it _forever_ if he had the chance! Because… because not just _seeing_ that happiness? _Being_ happy _with_ Yuugi was… was…

…

Atem… stopped breathing.

Stared at that hand… without blinking…

 _Being… a **part**_ _of his happiness…_

…

He looked up… into Yuugi's face.

…

He was mixing up words.

It had to be a coincidence. Random. No, not even random! Honda's words were just rolling around in his head still, and he had naturally drawn on them because they _sounded_ similar. Because of _course he–_ He _did_ like being happy with Yuugi, _yes,_ and seeing Yuugi happy, so _of course…_ but that wasn't the same thing!

 _That… that is just stupid. It's_ ** _stupid_** **.** _I'm not– I don't– I don't_ ** _love–_**

His teeth clenched as if to stifle the word he had never even uttered, but no. There it was. And as he couldn't take it back, he couldn't deny the _screech_ in his head of **_lie!_**

And he shut his eyes against it, tried to reason with himself. Because _of_ ** _course_** _I love him! He– I've_ ** _always_** _loved- But that's not_ ** _the same!_** _It's just… as his partner! Not in a– in a_ ** _movie_** _sense!_

He breathed. Tried to breath, tried to bring some logic to the broken beat of his heart.

But it… just… the pounding softened in the silence that scorched across his mind, yes, but that pulse raced as it quieted, faster and faster until his head was full and dizzy with the hum of his own blood, and all he could do was _stare._

Stare at their hands… still clasped tight… his own burning cold with sweat.

He didn't dare look up. Didn't dare _look_ at Yuugi, but his face was there all the same, and–

 _This is stupid. This is–_ He clenched his eyes shut, shook with the denied urge to squeeze that hand.

That– _hand–_

 _This is entirely off bounds!_

He sucked in a breath and froze… everything in him going utterly still, save for the runaway stream of his own thoughts.

 _That_ thought.

He… he _couldn't…_ he shouldn't even be _considering_ such a thing, much less with _Yuugi!_ And what basis did he even have _for_ such thoughts, save for outside suggestion?! He– he had _never–_

 _Can you feel it without even knowing what it is?_

Atem jerked, opened eyes to stare blindly at their hands as that memory… of his _own question…_ it…

…Surely not. How could he… how could he feel something like _that_ and not… not recognize…

…He remembered.

Remembered Yuugi's smile.

Countless smiles spread across a year of blooming friendship and trust, of time spent together, watching him laugh, and cry, and dance, and just… Just sharing moments – _the sweetest moments_ – when Atem managed to make Yuugi smile and _look at him_ with warmth in his eyes and nothing felt better than Yuugi _looking at him like that_ and… and… _but…_ but that was _just love_! It didn't mean Atem wanted _movie-romantic-whatever_ love from him! It was… that was… never an _option…_ just like… with everyone else. He was a _spirit_ who had to borrow a body to even _experience_ something like that! And it was _Yuugi's body_ to begin with, so even if that _was_ okay he couldn't _with_ Yuugi, so…

So…

…His chest hurt.

Atem's eyes focused, caught on their hands… watched, _felt it_ as he twisted his hand, _just a little,_ and Yuugi's fingers started to slide off of his own sweaty ones… only to twitch, and subconsciously clench tighter.

Hold onto him.

And Atem felt it.

…His chest hurt.

…

He… he wasn't a spirit anymore. And things that… were impossible before, were– _still extremely stupid! And I've never thought like this before! Thought that I want– want to– that I want to_ ** _touch–_**

A bandaged cheek flashed in his mind.

Atem… could find no thought to refute _that,_ no will to block the memory rising up behind his eyes.

The memories…

The memory of Yuugi in a hospital bed, crying and smiling and hurt and _Atem reaching for him,_ the sweetness of Yuugi _reaching back,_ holding on even… even when Atem couldn't feel him properly.

…Even when he ached _so much_ to feel him. To reach out and wrap himself around his partner in his relief and despair and… and the underside of his resignation later, as he accepted that he would have to leave– that same want to never let go of his partner. To hold onto him forever and… and…

And everything.

He had wanted to _be with Yuugi._

 _Utterly, completely, in every way he could._

Even as the certainty he couldn't stay struck him, he had… but no. That want had been there long, _long_ before, and well after, pulsing quiet and constant and forgettable as a heartbeat. And… and every time Yuugi smiled at him, well before the fire and the museum and their paths were split by the truth? Atem had looked into each of Yuugi's smiles and wanted to live in them, bask in them and _drown in a feeling_ and when it was the only means at his disposal, he had just… just _bathed_ in the feedback of his partner's heart, but… but if he had _just had some other means–_

Atem sucked in a breath, and the strike of long denied oxygen left him dizzy, mindless as he brushed restless, mapping fingers over and under Yuugi's palm, the sensation of his skin leaving him breathless all over again, thinking back to a watery smile his partner offered him not so long ago, in exchange for a few written words of affection.

Words that had… fallen so short… of what he had wanted to say.

Because words could _never_ cover it alone, and if he had had some other means? He would have taken it… He would have taken _any_ means at his disposal to savor his partner's joy and extend it and revel in it and show him how precious he really was to him, and he had felt _so limited_ when all he could do was write down a few shallow words and insist they were true and just… exist at his partner's side. He wanted to– to…

And later, _after_ the fire? He had come out to find Yuugi _alive_ and his partner had just _smiled_ at him and Atem had leaned in as close as he could because he wanted to _hold him and–_

He could hold him _now._

Atem clenched his teeth as his breath ran wet, his eyes finally giving in and sliding up, catching on a face _he could touch,_ a partner he could _hold_ if he would just dare, and that same ache from back then was back, and _he could–_

 _I could do that… All I have to do is reach out, and– and I don't think he'd mind._ Even in Atem's mind the thought was pitiful, weak and dripping with tears he wouldn't let rise. _If I told him it's what I need, I know he'd let me. I… I know it. He wouldn't_ ** _mind_** _and... that's all I need._

But… but as he stared at that face through aching eyes? At those features so familiar and _similar_ but so unique and precious, because they belonged _to him?_ Atem stared at Yuugi's face… and something went slack within him.

Surrendered.

 _That's not all I need… I'm a liar._

 _I'm a_ ** _fool_** _and a liar and I_ ** _know_** _it and I've just been running from it._

 _…_

 _No… no, I refused to see it was even there to run from at all. Because if I… thought about this…_

 _It's not_ ** _just_** _that I want to hold him._

 _I want to hold him._

 _It's not **just**_ _that I want to be with him._

 _I want to_ ** _be with_** _him._

 _I want to be with him and hold him and everything…_ ** _everything_** _else. Anything and everything and… and I don't know if that's book love or movie love, but… it's everything love_ _, and that includes movie love, too, doesn't it? And… and movie love… is…_

Atem… he slowly, _slowly_ let his eyes drift to a single point. A single feature.

Yuugi's mouth… just barely parted, twitching open and shut the tiniest bit with each passing breath.

 _…_ _Would I want to? Is that **really**_ _what I–_

Just trying to imagine it felt like walking into a fog. An unknown he had never traveled through before, because… Ah yes, _that_ was why he had never gone down that road. Had never even had to _hide_ from that thought. He had no idea what to even _think_ of that… _gesture…_ and was that something he would even want to do at all?

 _I don't know… I don't_ ** _know._** _I've never…_

 _…_

 ** _But…_**

 _…_ _If I was going to try?_

 _If I was, I know… I know, if I was going to try, I would want…_

 _I would want to try with_ ** _him._**

The thought… it circulated through Atem's head again, and _again,_ the simple sincerity of it spiraling back as a screaming roar that stunned him, _alarmed_ him, the point of contact between them _burning_ until Atem jerked loose as though Yuugi's hand scalded him.

And he woke up.

He didn't jolt or anything, simply lifted his head with a twitch of his shoulders and a loud sniff.

And he was probably blinking, confused, but– but Atem wasn't looking to know.

He was staring at his hand, resting on his leg… still tingling needles everywhere his partner had been touching him.

"What… it… what time is it?"

He didn't know. And Atem should have said so. Felt it in the impulse to dismiss, and smoothe over, and ignore.

But he took so long trying to that when he finally clenched his hand and dropped it, focused on the rail with a simple, "Late. We should go to bed," he could feel it.

Yuugi staring at him.

…He didn't say anything, though. And moments ticked by, and Atem felt it only in retrospect that he was letting the chance to dismiss slide by. He should be standing up, going to bed.

Instead he sat there like Yuugi's eyes on his cheek were chains holding him in place, and he had no choice but to endure it until, inevitably, Yuugi spoke.

"What's wrong?"

Not _is_ something wrong. _What_ was wrong.

He was that sure.

And still Atem foolishly tried to slip loose, with nothing more than a quiet, flat, "Nothing," to show for himself.

Even _he_ was appalled by his shallow lie, felt the impatience he heard in his partner's voice.

"I know _that_ much is not true, so what is it?"

There was no point in pretending he was at ease, so Atem took no pains to cover it as he clenched his eyes shut, tried to gather himself back together… and finally sighed out his tension, collected himself enough to shift his legs to stand up. "I'm _fine,_ _aibou,_ we should–"

Fingers found his jaw and neck, and he froze, eyes shooting wide open.

Yuugi was right there, in his face– a frown and sharp, purple eyes right at the end of his nose.

Atem's stomach smashed into his chest, and everything was floating inside of him– guts and heart and mind, all loose and floating and running into each other.

And all he could do was stare through Yuugi's ignorant persistence.

"It's obvious you're upset about _something, mou hitori no boku,_ and you shouldn't just _go to bed_ so worried. So, if you don't want to tell me what it is, just tell me… what I could…"

…Yuugi trailed off into silence.

His mouth shut. His eyes went wide.

Because Atem had shifted… raised his hand… to cradle Yuugi's.

And the moment he realized it – _saw_ the truth of it in the shock of his partner's gaze– Atem's insides recrystallized only to shatter.

He tried to pull away, but while he managed to free his cheek, Yuugi– he was too fast.

He caught Atem's hand as it tried to escape. Held it fast in the air, _tight,_ as… as he stared at him.

Yuugi was _staring_ at him, and… and Atem knew. His touch might have been just as simple as Yuugi's, no different than the countless clutches shared between them in the days since the museum, but… but he _knew._ He must have… there must have been _something_ in the way he looked at Yuugi. Something that had no words but was _no less real and visible for it,_ because Atem felt it there, beating in his chest, like a secret he couldn't hide.

A secret Yuugi was _looking for_ as he stared him in the eye… questioning.

Checking.

And Atem couldn't run… couldn't even move… could never lie and _never_ to Yuugi.

But… but surely, if Yuugi could _see it,_ he would be pulling away? Aghast? Uncomfortable?

 _Something?_

But no, he was just… staring at him, with the strangest sort of disbelief on his face, and… and asking.

Asking.

…And instead of pulling away, or at _least staying still until Yuugi gave up,_ Atem answered.

He looked at Yuugi's mouth.

And Yuugi sucked in breath so loud Atem's mind blinked back to life and he jerked back and _Yuugi_ jerked back and– and they were both sitting there on the concrete, facing other, leaning back on shaky arms as they _stared_ at each other, _reeling_ because **_what was that?!_**

And– and Atem floundered, struggled for air, for _sanity,_ and finding none in the still unclear, stumbling eyes of his partner, he retreated into the simple. The given. "We should go to bed."

Yuugi mouthed some word, some reply before the confusion hit his shock and mixed with it like oil on water, until something spliced through both and his eyes went _wider_ and dropped to the ground between them.

His face was burning, and Atem looked down, too, unable to look at it.

He knew.

"Y-yeah, of course. Bed."

Atem nodded silently, the motion as mechanical and wooden as Yuugi's own words… and when neither moved, he added a flat, "Now."

"Right…"

And still they lingered… the screaming need to _not walk away_ scrambling against the confusion that sloshed in Atem's gut like motion sickness.

But if Yuugi ever lifted his eyes back to him, Atem didn't know. Before he dared to check, Yuugi finally… _finally_ moved, rose and retreated to the apartment on quiet, bare feet… leaving the balcony door open behind him.

And Atem kept staring at the empty spot he left behind, sharply conscious of a sweat that had broken out across his body.

It would have been so tempting to remain, to shake and reel there on the ground, out of sight, where he could _try_ to _make sense_ of it all, unseen… but if he stayed behind too long, Yuugi might come back.

…

He scooped his dice up, pocketed them, and stood… followedin his partner's wake.

There was nothing beyond the door but an unlit living room, his sleeping friends spread out across the carpet… and Yuugi's lone, surely conscious form, already tucked in and still between Bakura and Jounouchi.

…If Atem stood there long enough, adjusted to the dark, he would surely be able to make out details. See if Yuugi was turned his way.

If he was looking at him.

…He stood there only a moment before shutting the door and retreating to his own futon… to the Puzzle, still resting on the pillow where he had left it.

He lay there, clutching it to his chest as he stared at the ceiling. Held it as he listened to the cars passing by, to the snores of his friends… strained to make out the breathing of his partner.

Strained not to think at all.

…

The Puzzle pulsed on against his chest, _nothing_ next to the pounding of his own heart.


	10. Chapter 10

**Title** : Reconfiguration  
 **Summary:** A few minutes delay is all it takes to change the course of lives, and Atem is not certain if he should thank the gods or curse them for this shift in his destiny. For what did it mean for his fate, this chance to know the world again in his own flesh? What good might come from this chance to linger so solidly in a world he was meant to leave? [Puzzleshipping, Canon Branch-Off]  
 **Rating:** **T** for Teen.  
 **Author:** Phoebe Delos  
 **Fandom:** Yu-Gi-Oh! DM  
 **Spoilers:** Pretty much the full series (manga edition).  
 **Disclaimer:** Yu-Gi-Oh! isn't mine. Neither are any of the games I mentioned in here.  
 **Notes:** Here's my belated FFN upload of this chapter! Apologies for the wait.

* * *

 **:: Monday, June 22 ::**

"Whoo, no cheap discount bentos for me today! You're the best, Bakura! Getting stuff from your kitchen is like getting to eat like a king!"

"Haha, it's really nothing, Jounouchi-kun. If you wanted me to make you a home bento before, all you had to do was ask. I would have said yes anytime."

"Be careful, Bakura-kun. If you offer something like that, Jounouchi will instantly take you up on it and expect the same everyday."

"Hey! Stop acting like I'm taking advantage of him or something, Anzu! –And stop discouraging him, that sounds awesome!"

"How is that not proving my point?!"

"Are they like this every morning?"

"We don't usually walk together to school," Honda answered Otogi instantly and easily… even as his head kept tilting to the side so that he could eye the two behind them.

The gathered friends were walking to school together after their long weekend at Bakura's, but they had strung themselves out pretty loosely along the road due to their varying strides and energies: some rushing ahead, some hanging back… and the shortest two of the group were trailing behind at quite a distance. And no matter how Honda strained to hear what they were saying over Anzu and Jounouchi's banter and Otogi's comments, he couldn't make out a thing.

But if Honda had been closer, he would have realized Yuugi and Atem weren't talking at all.

Their friends' squabble echoed back at them amongst a spray of outside noises– passing cars, people talking, some distant construction, the whole lot of it hummed in the narrow distance between former vessel and spirit. A mere few inches marked one bent elbow from the other, the hand Atem wasn't supporting his duffel with stuffed in his pocket, Yuugi's own two gripping the straps of his school bag. Clenching them, really, as he kept his face turned forward… but his eyes kept skimming to his right.

To Atem.

He wasn't looking back at him, though. Atem was glowering hard at the sidewalk, as if caught in some deep, troubling thought, not even aware of Yuugi and his staring… so, it was perfectly natural for Yuugi to trip a little when Atem suddenly shot a glance his way.

And if Yuugi instantly dodged his gaze– that was just ruffled shock.

Even when the shock wore off, though, Yuugi couldn't bring himself to look back… even as he felt Atem's eyes burning on his cheek.

Even as he spoke.

" _Aibou_?"

"Ah… yeah?"

"It's fine. You don't need to look at me like that."

Yuugi grimaced, face heating with the proof that Atem had noticed because of course he had. They… they hadn't had a moment alone since they got up that morning, everyone too focused on cleaning up their weekend mess, eating breakfast, and prepping for the school day to notice Yuugi quietly tossing glance after uncertain glance at his lookalike as they went about their business… but of course Atem himself noticed!

Thus called out, Yuugi finally looked at the other, uncertainty hanging in his eyes even as Atem smiled for him– even as he broke their gaze again himself to face forward, his expression… draining, eyes caught on some far-off point. On some horizon Yuugi couldn't see– even as he recognized that focus itself all too easily. "I didn't mean to surprise you like that… but you really don't need to worry about it. It was an impulse move, and I won't do it again if it bothers you."

Yuugi pressed his lips together against a would-be, sharply frazzled outburst.

To hear Atem talk, you'd think they were speaking of some sort of nervous tic or something!

And– and honestly… it was never what Atem did that mattered. It was… it was how he had looked at him when he did it.

It… it was…

…

But Yuugi didn't know how to say it. Couldn't even focus on finding the words to try when his mind fogged over with the slowly rising realization that… that Atem hadn't– denied anything. Hadn't even… even excused it.

He was just… trying to let it go. As if… as if that was all he could do, because–

Yuugi gulped, and followed Atem's example. Faced the street ahead and… and tried to answer, even as his mind raced a hundred miles an hour in the other direction. "I'm not worried or anything."

"You're not?"

Yuugi shook his head, glowering at his other self's quiet, flat, unconvinced tone. "No, of course not! You didn't do anything wrong, I just–"

–!

Yuugi stopped, eyes wide and blind, every muscle in his body, every limb frozen stiff.

Es… especially… his hand. The hand pried gently away from his bag strap.

Into Atem's grasp.

Caught, but cradled, just… just like how Yuugi had held his… last night.

He didn't dare even twitch, but he turned his head, just a bit, to look at Atem. So that he could see him– turn his blank, struck gaze on him.

But Atem was already looking away, the opposite way, frowning a frown that made Yuugi's swirling guts crash and drop. Before he could react, Atem let go of him, stuffed his hand back into his pocket, and started forward again.

Away from him.

"Sorry, that was uncalled for."

"What, it– no!" He couldn't think, didn't even have time to think, but perhaps that was for the best. If Yuugi had stopped to think about it, he might not have actually rushed to catch up, grappled for Atem's wrist, or slid his grip down to his hand when it came loose from his pocket. He might not have ended up standing there, in broad daylight, holding the man's hand as he insisted, "It's fine, _mou hitori no boku_! It– it's fine…"

The last words came out so quiet that they were practically a whisper… but everything else around them was a hum, too, as Atem stopped. Stalled, went still… and didn't pull away.

Just turned around on slow, stiff feet, and looked back at him… his gaze just as lost as Yuugi's.

Just as confused.

Just as breathless as he looked down at their caught hands… and then slowly back up– at Yuugi.

So confused.

And Yuugi had no answers for him. He had no idea what he was doing, either. But… but, he found that he really wasn't troubled by that. He was confused, too, that was true. But he felt no fear or alarm for the feeling that beat in his chest as he stood there, caught in the twin traps of Atem's warm hand, and soft, puzzled eyes… eyes that asked what he was doing.

Yuugi didn't answer. He just held on, pressed his fingers into the center of that rough palm until… until slowly… slowly, Atem's fingers folded around his, too.

And a shiver crawled up Yuugi's spine, old and new and chilled and so, so sweet.

"Hey! Yuugi! Atem!"

Yuugi jerked back.

His hand was free and his face was burning even before the voice fully registered, but conscious recognition prompted him to trip around a once again stiff Atem to holler back at a waving Jounouchi, "W-what is it?!"

"Come on, guys!" his best friend cried, his voice sharp, impatient, and clearly ignorant of what had just been happening. His view, it– it must have been blocked by Atem's body, and– "I had to double back when we saw you were missing! Come on, we're going to be late! You want to try and jump the gate or something?!"

"–You should go."

Yuugi blinked, everything moving too fast for his shaken mind to keep up with, but still– two seconds late, he jerked about to see Atem stuffing his hand back into his pocket and walking away, the direction they had just come, and– "What– what are you–?" Yuugi swallowed, grimacing. Damn it, his voice was way too strained there!

But it seemed like his struggle was worth something as his other self stopped and gave a quiet little chuckle, looking over his shoulder to shoot him a smile– a soft thing that made Yuugi's stomach turn with warmth and suspicion both. "I need to get back to the shop. You go on ahead. Jounouchi's right, you don't want to get locked out, do you?"

"No, but–"

"Guys!" Jounouchi called, cutting into Yuugi's protest and making him flinch with his scattered focus. "What's up?! Is everything okay?!"

"Yeah, we're fine!" Yuugi insisted, his head whipping back and forth between the two. "I'll be right there! I just have to– w-wait–" he finished quietly as he turned back, making the retreating Atem stop again as he asked, "Can we… talk after school?" Yuugi felt his own throat close up as he asked, but the idea of Atem walking away like this–

Yuugi swallowed his tension as Atem looked back at him again, expression… solemn this time, completely still even as a frenzy of emotions played across his eyes… but just as the pressure in Yuugi's gut felt like it was too much, something gave in Atem's face– and he nodded. "After school."

Yuugi didn't know a person could relax and tense at the same time, but it sure felt like he did both as he nodded, mumbling a "Good… good…" as he stared at his own feet… only to throw himself headfirst into turning around and running after Jounouchi. "I'll… see you later, then!"

Atem didn't answer… but he was still there. Yuugi saw that when he glanced back just as he reached his best friend. And after he finished assuring Jounouchi that he was good, that Atem just needed to go back to the shop, and they should hurry and run to catch up with the others? Just as Yuugi turned a corner some blocks ahead, he glanced back one more time…

And Atem was still there, watching him go.

* * *

"What's your hurry, huh? The shop's not open for another hour, there's no need to rush!" Sugoroku laughed, pausing his sweep of the front step as his adopted temporary family member made for the household door. "Come on, tell me what you were up to this weekend! Hanging out with your friends, and Yuugi– and a sleepover with a girl present to boot! You think I'll accept 'it was fun' and leave it at that?"

"I'll be happy to share the details," Atem assured, managing at least a twitch of a smile in the face of the older man's good humor. "But I should put up my bag and change first. I can always tell you more in the store."

"Right, right," Sugoroku allowed with a sigh. "There's always the quiet hour before lunch kicks in…"

Atem knew he should reply at least somehow, but… but he didn't want to press his luck. Sugoroku didn't seem suspicious yet, and with something of a half-opening before him, Atem took it, heading into the house while the older Mutou was lost in thought about the day's likely activity.

Coming inside, he heard Yui moving about inside… and shut his mouth against the impulse to call out his entrance. Instead, Atem moved as quietly as he could to remove his shoes and climb the stairs, bypassing the open door of the family room as quickly as possible.

She didn't catch him.

Less than a minute later he was upstairs, the bedroom door shut behind him, an empty room before him… and he was finally alone.

And for a few seconds he just stood there, taking in the solitude… and then, slowly, he lifted his hand and stared at it.

The hand that had been holding his partner's less than an hour ago… and last night.

If he concentrated, he could still…

Atem's jaw started to ache from the clench of his teeth, and he countered the pain by clenching his hand.

What had he done?

The thought had been beating through his head all night, louder and louder and clearer with every minute, and every time he looked up that morning to find Yuugi there, staring at him but refusing to meet his eye? That question had screamed anew in his ear, because–

What had he done?

Why had he done that?

He knew why, of course, at least on a purely logical level. Atem had been too caught up in his own head, the things he had realized too raw in his thoughts when Yuugi touched him, and… and he had had no time to build up a front to his reaction to that. He had just… acted.

And now his partner knew. There was no way Yuugi hadn't guessed something of the truth, and Atem knew himself well enough. If Yuugi asked him about it, confronted him directly? Atem wouldn't be able to lie… and he couldn't avoid the issue now. Yuugi would… Yuugi wouldknow… no, likely already knew.

And he… he had…

Atem opened eyes he didn't remember shutting to stare unseeing at his partner's desk as he thought, because… what did Yuugi think?

He had… humored him, at least. At the very least Yuugi hadn't pushed him away, wasn't put off or anything, that much was clear. He was…trying… and… and back there, Atem could have sworn… Was it… was it nerves or the idea of it all that had made Yuugi blush, and look at him like that? Or…

…

But he was troubled, too.

Even if he had seen Yuugi blushing back there, his partner was… was nervous around him now, and uncertain. Uncertain how to face him. Uncertain how to deal with him.

The thought rolled in Atem's stomach and threatened bile beneath his tongue.

He swallowed back the reaction with a grimace and an angry thought as he moved further into the room, tossing his duffel onto the bed before slumping down beside it… staring at his own hands.

What did he expect Yuugi to do, exactly? Push him away and turn his back in anger or disgust? No, however he might actually feel, Yuugi was never cruel. And it was in his nature to reach out, not push away. Even… even if Yuugi recovered from his shock only to find himself uncomfortable with this, he would do everything he could to… to make it right. Hide his distress in favor of fixing this.

And Atem couldn't stand that. Couldn't stand the thought of his partner hiding more pain and worries for his sake, and– and if Yuugi did do that? Buried his true feelings? Atem would never even be sure of it. Yuugi… he could be so hard to read when it came to something he didn't want to trouble anyone over. He always wore his heart on his sleeve, but a smile over his tears. And if he grew upset over this, he'd do thatnow for sure… for Atem… He was just that kind, and considerate, and…

Atem's fingers caught tight in the fabric about his knees as he looked up, his eyes finally focusing again as they caught on a picture, sitting on his partner's low bookcase… a picture of Yuugi smiling between Anzu and Honda, caught under Jounouchi's arm.

It was taken nearly a year ago, last summer, well before Atem had started properly talking to his partner… but still he smiled at it. At the memory of that happy, simple joy ricocheting loudly through that soul, not a single complication or bittersweet strand of emotion present to sour the emotion.

Yuugi was so happy then… and he had looked so happy last night, with him.

Atem had underlined what they were, made Yuugi smile, only to… and how could they ignore this? How could he expect Yuugi to forget what he did, and not think about it? Go back to that ease they had just found?

What would happen to them now? To them and their… bond…

And…

Atem breathed in a tight, struggling breath, and dropped his gaze back to his hands, suddenly sharply aware of his own skin. Of… of his ownhands, and what they could touch.

What they had touched.

…What… what if… what if Atem was wrong, and Yuugi's shock didn't turn to distress? What if his partner actually didn't mind, and… and his blushes, and his glances, and his grip, it all meant… it all actually meant…

…

Atem wasn't sure why it occurred to him, or why it seemed the best, most logical thing to do in that moment, but all the same, as he struggled to find some steady ground for his heart? For something to distract him from dangerous, flailing hopes?

His gaze caught on a long, bright tin box tucked into the bottom right corner of that bookcase… and he went to it.

He had never touched it before, but knew well enough what he would find inside. It was a box of memories, after all, not secrets, of things Yuugi wanted to remember. And so, Atem remembered, too. And as he opened it up, a splash of nostalgia probably too personal washed over his heart for the things inside. Little bits and knick-knacks that would likely mean nothing to anyone else…

A handful of old ticket stubs Yuugi's grandmother had kept from their earliest trips to the movies, passed on to Yuugi after she died, stuffed in a basic cheap ziploc bag.

A little handheld game, gifted to and then handed back broken by Anzu back in grade school.

A red glove with a clunky wristband with a bunch of golden stars stuck in it.

A pack of birthday cards all tied together, sent by Yuugi's father, one for every year.

And a bunch of other things, but the cards were on top, since the latest was sent just a few weeks ago, and Yuugi had made a point to put it away as fast as possible, lest it get lost or thrown away.

But… but what Atem was looking for was just below it, added only a few months ago.

Just a tiny slip of paper, white, folded down the middle, but… but it was special, because it was the only thing in the box that was solelyAtem's.

Even if Yuugi was the one who made it.

Finding it easily, Atem pulled it out– gaze catching and hanging briefly on the solved white puzzle just below it before he shut the box and put it back, leaving only the piece of paper in his hand… which he unfolded after a long, hesitant pause.

He didn't really need it. He had memorized the little note long ago, but… but Atem still found himself leaning against the side of Yuugi's desk, eyes catching on the familiar script, and reading the sweet words all over again.

 _Mou Hitori no Boku, I never expected to find someone like you, but I am so happy that I did. And I just wanted to give you these to say, I really liked making them with you. Which isn't any surprise, because I like doing anything with you, but I just wanted to let you know. And to say, let's just keep doing stuff like this, and spend every day we can together, okay? Because nothing could measure up to the time I get to spend with you._

The note Yuugi had left him on Valentine's Day that year, when he made treats for all of his friends, Atem included.

The chocolates that had come with the note were long gone, eaten well before White Day approached and Atem returned the favor with a gift and sentiments of his own, but… these words remained. The feeling remained.

And Atem remembered the feelings that had struck him when he first read this– as bittersweet as the chocolate that had come with them. But… but Yuugi had just smiled for him, and never spoken of the note.

It had said all it needed to on its own.

He had just… Yuugi had treasured their time together, the same as Atem, and knowing that had been all Atem needed, and… and that was what they had already, now! At… at least until yesterday, before… and then Atem, he…

Atem rolled his jaw, grimacing as he let his hand, note and all, fall into his lap.

Had he… messed up?

"Atem-kun, are you– ah, there you are. What are you doing down there?"

Atem looked up to find Yui in the door, staring at him.

He flattened his expression into nothing as well as he could. "Reading. Sorry, am I late coming down? I'll change and be right there."

"What? Oh, no, we're still not opening for a while." Yui frowned, glancing over Atem and around him as if in search of… something, though by her continued expression, she didn't find anything. "There's a phone call for you downstairs."

"For… me?"

"Yes, long distance, too. Overseas, I think. The operator said it's a call from an 'Is-tar' something from Cairo, Egypt."

Atem's brief, honest surprise fell back into guarded calm in an instant. "Ishtar?"

"Yes, I think so. Will you come take it?"

Atem glanced down at the paper in his lap… and folded it back up as he stood. "Yes, I'll come."

He left the note on Yuugi's desk.

* * *

Yuugi couldn't stop staring at his hand.

Around him his class was taking notes, staring off into space, or looking at the blackboard as the teacher droned on with his history lesson, but– but Yuugi was barely even conscious of that, because without his friends or the movement of settling into class, there was nothing left to distract him from the thoughts in his head.

Not… not even a suspicion that he was off base or imagining things anymore, like last night, because… because, this morning, Atem had…

…Well, honestly, he hadn't done much of anything. Yuugi was the one who…

...But that was neither here nor there.

The point was, Atem had… he had… they had…

Yuugi shut his eyes, just long enough to shake his head a little, then looked down at his notebook, took up his pencil… and stared at nothing.

Still caught in the memory of last night.

They had just been talking, then Yuugi had nodded off, and when he woke up and saw Atem was upset, Yuugi had reached for him, the same as always, and… Okay, not the same as always, but they…

Yuugi gulped a bit, grimacing as he felt heat rise in his cheek, praying there was no visible flush.

Okay, but still, they touched all of the time now. Or, well, not all of time, sure, but still! It wasn't rare enough to be weird on its own… But then Atem had looked at him and… he buzzed. Yuugi's skin had buzzed while their hands touched, and… and his whole brain had buzzed just from… from seeing Atem look at his mouth and–

And he was definitely blushing now.

Yuugi shook his head, then– then turned to the opposite page in his notebook, blindly drawing a quick Sudoku game and filling in some random numbers before starting to try and solve it properly.

It wasn't enough to quiet his thoughts, but as they raged on, he slid through them naturally, half-numb to his own emotions.

The fact remained– the same moment had been on repeat in Yuugi's head since last night. He hadn't slept much at all, replaying that moment over and over until it was burned into his mind… that glance, and Atem's following run from it.

And then just now this morning–

…He didn't know what was happening.

What had happened to them? What had changed?

…Nothing. Nothing had changed.

Nothing had… really been different.

He wasn't sure what was going on in Atem's head, what made him look at him like that last night, or that morning, if he actually… but Yuugi wasn't blind. He had seen it, and he was sure of it. Atem… he had stared at his mouth. Had reacted to Yuugi touching him, and… and returned that touch and–

…But he had thrown up his walls, too. Atem had called an end to that moment on the balcony before it even really began, and… and on the walk to school, he had tried to dismiss the whole thing, tried to make some sort of 'point' by touching him, only… only for the whole thing to repeat again when Yuugi touched him.

He had reacted, yes, but Atem didn't… whatever he was thinking, or feeling, he didn't seem to… want to share it… and, on top of that, what about all of the things he said last night?! About not understanding these kinds of feelings? H-how could Atem be thinking anything like that if he–

–Yuugi blinked, and looked down at his foot.

A pencil had rolled into his toe… with an apple shaped eraser on top that he recognized.

He looked up to see Anzu looking back at him over her shoulder.

She made a vague gesture at her face, but it was her troubled eyes that made her question loud and clear.

Was he okay?

Yuugi couldn't help it– he grinned, the pleasant shock of the concern buoying his smile long enough for him to give her a convincing nod, which Anzu mirrored back at him before facing the front again, before the teacher noticed.

But as Yuugi leaned down to grab the pencil, his expression slid back into nothing again… and then down lower, into a quiet distraction. He turned the pencil in his hand, looking at the eraser… considering the one who had tossed it at him.

How crazy was that? Anzu of all people asking Yuugi if he was okay, as he tried to sort out his feelings for–

Yuugi shook his head, then took a second look at his Sudoku game… then snorted as he set aside the pencil.

There were two sevens in the same line from the start… He had set up an unwinnable game.

But it didn't really matter, because no matter how he tried to keep his mind off of this, he still… he still couldn't run from it.

From what he himself felt.

Whatever Atem was thinking, Yuugi had felt that buzzing in his own gut when they touched, and Atem looked at him, all on his own… and it had been shocking largely because it wasn't unfamiliar.

It was… it was terrifying how not unfamiliar it was…

It wasn't about feeling a new sensation, but being suddenly conscious of an old one, staring it in the face and feeling it straight on after… after a week of little touches shocking him and leaving him dizzy and Yuugi had just blamed it all on the sheer weirdness of his other being solid flesh, and– okay, yeah, his other self was… really amazing to look at at times, there was nothing weird in itself about noticing that. And it was… it was nice when Atem touched him, but Yuugi had put that down to an interest spawned by the weirdness of this whole situation, and… But, that shock had worn off really fast, and… and the weird dizzies had only got worse…

And it… wasn't just this last week… He had just said it, hadn't he? To himself. It was familiar, and it was as much the way Atem looked at him as the touch itself, and Atem– he had always looked at him like that.

Or, not always, but… but going back a really, really long time… and it had made Yuugi like… like that for a long time, too. But all of that? That feeling of his other self smiling, so warm and proud and delighted and bright with fire and focus and– and all of that Atem-ness of his? It had never been right there before! Right in his face, and before Yuugi couldn't–

Yuugi sniffed, squeezed his eyes shut, opened them again, but… but even as his face and palms warmed, he couldn't run from the thought.

Because before, he couldn't… couldn't feel Atem. Couldn't touch him and– and didn't know he could touch him, if he wanted to, and… and that knowledge? It was… it was too… too similar to the sweet dizziness that always came with Atem's smiles and praise and sheer presence, and… Yuugi didn't know what to do with that.

Yuugi… turned his eyes back on his own hand, and closed it slowly, imagining his still there, caught in his grasp, that cheek at his fingertips, those eyes he had stared into, and…

His stomach floated on air.

The same as always.

Only now he thought about it… and it terrified him.

It wasn't normal.

But… but he knew that much all along. After all, Atem was his other self! They shared a bond Yuugi had never known before, so of course he felt things with him he didn't feel with anyone else! It just followed! It– it was never something he needed to think about before! Why… whywould he try to understand something so… one-of-a-kind…

…But now… he had grounding in that feeling. The natural warmth of a solid, real person who he could touch. Had touched. Had… felt things while touching… And that feeling, it… it wasn't so unique. Honestly, it wasn't all that different from what he felt with Anzu or… or with others, if only in passing. But those feelings had all been a pleasant hum in his belly and a rush of blood to the face, whereas this roared in his ear, and…

…And this was crazy.

And even more than that, Atem was a guy! And yeah, sometimes Yuugi did note a guy was particularly pretty, or nice to look at, just like a girl… and that was always a bit weird, and he didn't like to linger on those thoughts much. Didn't like to consider what might be involved if heever seriously considered a guy like that– the added obstacles to the already colossal concept of liking somebody.

And– and he had never had to consider this before, because he had never liked one guy in particular before! Not– not like with Anzu!

And did– did he actually want that… with…

…

…And besides all of that, Atem was not just any guy! He was his other self! His partner! The one who once shared his memories and his body and his very name! His other half! His… even knowing who he really was now, Atem was still a part of him, and quite literally up until a week ago! And they wouldn't even have long to get used to this new norm, because Atem was leaving! Yuugi was going to lose him and– and…

…

Yuugi leaned back, let his eyes slide to the window… not seeing a thing as he considered the one part of this whole thing that truly wasn't new at all.

All… all too familiar…

…

But that was neither here nor there.

It didn't matter. Atem leaving had nothing to do with what Yuugi… felt … for him…

…

Yuugi shut his eyes, and breathed out.

No hint of shock in his heart.

Just… just, a surrender.

…

But… it really, really didn't matter what he thought, or what was to come. None of that changed the answer to all of this, and as terrifying as it was, there was no other answer for all of this. This wasn't just a crush on a suddenly present friend, or the confusion of a bond too unique to understand. This… this was… Nothing else could explain what Yuugi felt back there or… or all along… save for his feelings for Atem notbeing that simple… or as unique as he thought.

…How though?

How , if this wasn't just Atem's realness confusing things, but something much deeper, that went back much, much farther… How had he notnoticed?! Was he really that blind to himself? That deaf to his own heart, and–

"Mutou-kun!"

"Ah–" Yuugi jolted up– and flinched, sitting back down hard as his knees screamed where they hit his desk. "Y-yes?"

"I know there might be something very interesting outside that window," the teacher allowed, not an ounce of sympathy in his glower. "But I would appreciate it if you kindly listened when I'm speaking to you."

"Y-yes, sir…"

"Good. Now, if you would all turn to page ninety-one, you'll see–"

Yuugi quickly shifted his book to the top of his desk pile and turned the pages, taking up his notes… careful to keep his eyes on the page as he came to a conclusion to his own thoughts.

He just needed to talk to him.

That was all there was to it. He wasn't going to get anywhere wondering and wondering on and on alone like this, and he was scared he would just… just convince himself of something that wasn't even true, thinking about this all on his own! One… one way or another… he could still somehow be wrong after all. If not about his own feelings, then…

…

…He just– needed to talk to Atem. Be honest, and say he was confused, and that he didn't know what to think, or what he wanted, but that there was something … something there that wasn't anything Yuugi had ever felt for someone he saw solely as a friend. And… and it wasn't just that they were partners, and he… he wanted to understand it. What it meant. What he should do about it. If… if under the circumstances, they should do anything about it.

He wanted to know if… if Atem really did feel it, too.

He… had to, right? Yes, Atem had… he had seemed so confused yesterday, about this very thing. Acted like he'd never… but he had still been caught up in that weird moment, the same as Yuugi. No, he had started the whole thing, holding onto him like that, looking at him like that? They had never lingered in their stares like that before when they touched, so… and they had both reacted to it! Both tensed and stared last night, and there on the street that morning, the air crackling between them.

So… so Atem had to feel it, too… right?

…

He… Yuugi had to know.

He– he had to be sure that it wasn't just him feeling these things. That he wasn't wrong or tricking himself somehow.

Even if the thought of asking made him grip the edge of his school book until his hands stopped shaking.

They would work through it, though.

Whatever it meant, however lost Yuugi felt, and whatever Atem might feel about all of this, he was still his other self. They had gone through worse than this, after all, and Yuugi… he trusted him.

So they would figure it out.

Yuugi could be brave for him, and for himself. Face it with Atem…

They would face it together… just like with everything else.

Just like always.

* * *

"Yes… yes… I will do that. Thank you for covering the costs, it means a lot," Atem said into the Mutou house phone, marking a few more things down on a notepad Yui had passed him in the middle of the call… keeping his face turned down towards the paper, away from the woman.

"It is the least we can do, my pharaoh. It's only right that your friends should all be able to come with you."

"Atem," he corrected without much thought, marking down and… after a hesitant moment, underlining a date and time.

"Of course, Atem–" Isis corrected herself, a smile bright and clear in her voice. "You're right, after everything, it is only right to use it… But yes, we can go over the full details once you are here, and I can share some things with you face to face, but I will contact you again while you are in Domino. I have to arrange your identification and passport, after all, and then the flight can be set for certain. I don't foresee any issues with presuming the date, though."

"Is that a prophecy, Isis?"

The woman chuckled a touch before answering, "Not at all, just a logical presumption."

Atem's lips twitched, though a proper smile never touched his face… much less his eyes, as he focused down on the paper, and the date. "Thank you for going out of your way to arrange all of this."

"Not at all. It is my duty, and I am happy to do it. And it will be good to see you again– along with everyone else."

"Likewise. Say hello to Malik and Rishid for me."

"I will, thank you. Until next month then, Pharaoh Atem?"

"Until then."

Atem heard the other line cut off just as he put down the phone himself, and he stared at the receiver for some moments, the words echoing back in his ear.

Next month.

"So that's it, then?"

Atem turned around– stared uncertainly at the woman still focused on folding clothing at the family room coffee table. "What?"

"Your trip home." Yui folded what looked to be the last of Sugoroku's shirts, then set it aside in favor of pinning a steady stare on Atem. "That was you arranging your trip home to Egypt with your friend there, right? Your… 'crossing over' as Otou-san put it?"

"Yes," Atem confirmed, turning his back on her under the guise of picking up the notepad. "I will take the Millennium Items back – this Puzzle, and the others – and put them to proper rest."

"Along with yourself."

"Along with myself, yes."

"I see."

Atem nodded, his mind so caught on the stated facts and the details summed up in a few bullet points on a piece of paper, that… that it was some moments before the present caught up to him enough to prompt a blink, and slow, baffled glance at Yui.

She had just used her mom voice on him.

She didn't look up at first, having moved on to folding some towels into a basket, but after some moments she noticed his silence and looked up… right into his stare. "What?"

"You just… what did you mean by that?"

"Mean by what?"

"By– the way you said that," Atem grimaced, straining to keep his confusion from making his tone sharp with his partner's mother as he waved vaguely between them. "Asking about me going."

"I didn't mean anything by it," Yui insisted, glowering a touch as she whipped another towel out flat, Atem's efforts at lightness apparently in vain. "I just wanted to confirm that yes, indeed, getting rid of those 'items' and that demon that's inside one of them means you are going, too."

That wasn't quite right. Technically, Zorc was in at least two of them– or maybe not, Atem wasn't certain how the destruction of Akhenaten's spirit affected that.

And really, it didn't matter, Yui likely didn't care about details like that. But… but the fact that she cared at all surprised him, left Atem uncertain as he confirmed, "I… it does."

"Alright."

One simple word, focused down at her laundry… and yet Atem felt, awkward, like he hadn't satisfied her somehow. And he found words spilling out of him, explanations Yui had never asked for. "I am tied to the Puzzle, so if it goes, it only follows… I'm only here in the first place because of some fluke. I should still be inside of it, because… I died, and the only reason I'm here in the first place is I needed to stop Zorc."

Somewhere along the way, Yui stopped folding. She stalled with a dish towel on her lap, hands still, eyes focused on Atem, steady and calm, but… but then, when he finally stopped, she looked down again, folding the cloth. "And so you did."

Atem watched her work, the motion of her hands folding it just right, tucking the edges under the way she always did… there was something oddly comforting about it, among it all. "…He's still in there. He won't be gone until the Puzzle is."

"And you think when the Puzzle goes, you go."

"Yes," he insisted, a fire he hadn't noticed building in his gut finally rising up, lighting each word ablaze, even as he never raised his voice. "I'm dead. I'm not meant to be here. I– I belong wherever this takes me."

Those were the facts. What had been true all along, even before Atem knew it, and… and…

"I see."

Atem opened his mouth, a frustration rising up to demand what did she want from him, but… but there was something oddly tired beneath Yui's steady gaze, and as she rose with her full laundry basket, she left out a sigh that threw all that Atem knew off-kilter again. "Well, if that's how it is, that's how it is. It will be surprisingly sad to see you go, but if you are going where you feel you belong, than I wish you well for it."

Atem opened his mouth… and shut it again.

It wasn't that simple.

But… but how could he say that? How could he explain that he was torn between two forces pulling him in opposite directions with all their might? He was finally getting a chance to leave, fulfill his destiny and find himself, take his place at the end of this twisted road and see friends he had lost and forgotten. He might even get back the memories he was denied the first time around!

But… but that all meant straining that opposite need to stay. To remain. To be with the friends he knew now, and the family he was just beginning to know, and the skin and the days and the life he was just getting used to, and… and the partner he already knew like the back of his hand, but who had just made him see parts of himself he barely understood, and–

"Atem-kun?" He blinked, turned his head as he realized Yui wasn't at the couch, where he had been staring, but standing in the doorway… looking straight at him.

She didn't ask, but the question was clear enough in her eyes… along with the concern.

…He couldn't tell her. Not any of it.

She was… she was a good person, as kind as his partner in her way, and if she heard anything but acceptance from him, she would worry. Be dismayed for him. And she didn't even know him! Not… not like him.

…

He had to leave. He knew that. Fate and destiny and security and his own basic need for identity demanded it.

So… so what good would come from not embracing that?

From not fully, openly embracing that?

From… building up new reasons for regret…

"…Nothing," he finally said, shooting her the best smile he could. "Thank you."

* * *

Yuugi stood in the doorway staring at the back of Atem's neck a good thirty seconds or so before he finally worked up the courage to walk inside and speak.

"Hey!"

Atem instantly looked up, but instead of immediately turning around, he put some slip of paper in the book he was reading, then shut it. Onlythen did he swerve around in the desk chair and smile at him. "Welcome home, _aibou_."

"Thanks!" Yuugi answered with a grin, anxiety and anticipation both clearly warring across his face as he shrugged out of his bag and set it at the foot of his bed. "Sorry I'm so late, I had clean-up duty after school, and I couldn't find anyone to sub in for me."

"That's alright. I was in the shop until half an hour ago, anyways."

"Right, right, you would have been unavailable…" Yuugi agreed on a distracted mumble… gaze caught completely on the man lounging before him with an unhurried, yet somehow still expectant glint in his eye.

The sight of it made Yuugi roll on his heels and stretch into a turn towards the bed, sitting on its edge as he focused on wiping his hands on his pant legs. "So um, about this morning? And… and last night?"

"Right," Atem breathed, almost as if to himself, and… so quietly that Yuugi froze, raised his eyes to stare uncertainly at his other self– and watched him frown at his own hands. "I wanted to say I'm sorry for that."

"–It's fine!" Yuugi flushed as he heard the volume of his own voice, especially when his other self flicked surprised eyes up at him. "I told you already, _mou hitori no boku,_ I'm not–"

"No, that's not what I meant," Atem corrected, expression hollowing back out to the same quiet calm as before. "I just mean… I was overwhelmed. I still get like that sometimes, since I have my own body now, and– and we can touch."

"…Me too," Yuugi mumble, eyes dropping down to his own lap with the whisper, just as Atem's own expression flickered. Something– something not dissimilar to the rush of feeling that had struck him out on the street and Bakura's balcony flashed across his face… and then it was gone, the light in his eyes dimming as much as it had sparked just a moment ago.

And he dropped his eyes for a moment, breathed… and raised them again, his composure back in place.

"What I meant was… I would have never let myself act like that if I had stopped to think about it."

…Yuugi… looked back up. Not a thing changed in his wary, uncertain expression from a moment before.

Save for the question there in his eyes.

Atem ground his teeth around the words he struggled to say, then finally sighed them out, voice… surprisingly gentle around his quiet insistence. " _Aibou_ … Do you remember what I said before? About 'movie love'?"

Yuugi's cheek twitched a tic, but otherwise… "Which part?"

"The part about how I feel more than satisfied with what I have, even if I haven't known that in particular," Atem explained… only to get silence in reply. Yuugi understood, he was sure of that much, because… because there was no confusion or hesitance in his eyes. No understanding or dread or even resignation, either. Just… just the gaze of a player experienced enough to recognize the moves already unfolding before him, out of his hands.

Atem's heart beat his sympathy.

"I still think that," he breathed… falling into a consolation smile as he admitted, "And I know Honda means well, truly, thinking I should consider it more. But I don't think it would be wise to consider it seriously… for myself, at least." His hand twitched on his leg, fingers raising towards his partner– only to fall back less than an inch from his skin. Yuugi probably never even saw it. "Not now."

The room… fell silent. Atem staring expectantly at Yuugi, Yuugi looking right back… both expressions completely blank.

"…I see," Yuugi breathed, eyes dropping back to the floor and freeing Atem to properly emote again, brow furrowing as he frowned, and– and searched in vain for a reaction from his partner, tense with dread of what it might be.

But it was… it was just like with Yui. Yuugi barely reacted– and Atem found himself talking.

"I don't mean I wouldn't want to–" Yuugi's eyes raced right back up to his, wide and sharp with focus, and Atem choked on his own words. He looked to the side, clearing his throat to cover the wash of dizziness that hit him, and glowered at his own struggle… only looking back when he could soften the expression and look at his partner gently. "I just mean… I spoke to Isis today, and it looks like I will be leaving before August after all. July 24th, just after your summer term is over." Yuugi's expression flickered, caught on some– some reaction, only to reset back to nothing but pure focus, the boy staring unblinking as Atem strained to smile through that wall. " And it made me think about this weekend, and how happy I was, and how I really am thankful for my friendship with everyone, and I just… You were right. I would rather spend every chance I get this next month celebrating that, because that is what would make me happiest in the end."

He smiled like it made his teeth hurt, and Yuugi… Yuugi just stared right on through it… until Atem couldn't hold it any longer, his true uncertainty starting to crack through.

"…Aibou?"

Yuugi blinked… then smiled, so fast it was like a switch was flipped somewhere. "Yeah! Yeah, of course… I'm glad you feel that way. That you enjoyed the sleepover, and want to do more stuff like that. That you're enjoying your time so much with us."

Atem echoed the stiffness of Yuugi's earlier expression in his shock, not reacting or saying a word in answer. But Yuugi didn't seem to mind. He just kept on smiling and talking, looking right at him, and– and yet– "Everyone will be happy to hear that, and me too. I'm glad we can spend this time with you, and that you don't think you're missing out on anything."

Yuugi's grin spread wider with the last, even as Atem opened his mouth to say something, only to choke on it… and in his struggle to recover, Yuugi found an opening to rise to his feet. "And while I'd love to hang out right now, I should probably go take my bath before Mama calls us down for dinner. I have a lot of homework to do tonight, after all. It'll be good to be free to focus on that until bed, without any interruptions."

"That's a good idea, but–"

But… what? Atem had spoken out without thinking, the words the only thing curbing his impulse to reach out and grab the edge of Yuugi's jacket as he passed right in front of him.

And Yuugi paused at his words, one hand already on the drawer of the chest beside the desk as he looked down at him… right within Atem's reach, but… "Yeah?"

Atem… stared up into those expectant, opaque violet eyes that he knew so well, and loved, and… turned away. Back to his book, reopening it with numb hands. "Nothing. I forgot."

"Ah." Even with Atem's eyes off of him, Yuugi offered only fogged smiles, and even those only briefly as he focused on getting fresh clothes from the drawer. "Well, if you think of it, let me know."

Atem didn't answer. Or nod. Just kept his faced turned to his book as Yuugi moved about beside and behind him… left the room without another word.

…Distantly, he heard the bathroom door close, and water start running.

…Gently, hands shaking just slightly, Atem pulled the little slip of paper out of the book, and set it carefully aside on the desk.

Task thus done, he closed his book again… and threw it.

The Rise and Fall of the New Kingdom slammed into the wall and toppled down onto the bed, but Atem didn't watch it fall. He kept facing the desk, fingers clenching its edge as he looked down.

Down at the Puzzle hanging around his neck.

Glaring so hard his eyes watered.

* * *

Yuugi held his hand under the water, testing its temperature… then looked up and stared at the door.

Something had just thumped somewhere. Hard, and loud.

…The seconds ticked by, and no sound followed… so he let it go. Focused on the motions– on checking the water, laying out his fresh clothes on the counter, stripping his current ones and tossing them in the hamper, gathering his personal shampoo and washcloth from the closet…

Finally, he sat down on the stool, the shower head already running in his hands, the water warm and ready for him to scrub down in preparation for his soak.

…But he didn't move.

Yuugi just… sat there… perfectly still… smiling.

Smiling, as tears ran unchecked down his face.


	11. Chapter 11

**Title** : Reconfiguration  
 **Summary:** A few minutes delay is all it takes to change the course of lives, and Atem is not certain if he should thank the gods or curse them for this shift in his destiny. For what did it mean for his fate, this chance to know the world again in his own flesh? What good might come from this chance to linger so solidly in a world he was meant to leave? [Puzzleshipping, Canon Branch-Off]  
 **Rating:** **T** for Teen.  
 **Author:** Phoebe Delos  
 **Fandom:** Yu-Gi-Oh! DM  
 **Spoilers:** Pretty much the full series (manga edition).  
 **Disclaimer:** Yu-Gi-Oh! isn't mine. Neither are any of the games I mentioned in here.  
 **Notes:** Here's chapter 11! And it's been long delayed, honestly, at least on the side, and I apologize for that. That being said, I have big point I need to announce. **I will not be updating any of my stories on after the 2017.** I have come to the conclusion that the site just isn't a good medium for me as a writer anymore, as the behind-the-scenes aspects are just too inflexible- especially now that I am working namely from a chromebook instead of a proper laptop or desktop. My sole up-to-date account for my writings will now be over at ArchiveofOurOwn, where I write under the same pen name as I do here- Phoebe Delos. Note: I will not be deleting this account. It will simply remain un-updated after 2017. I will be sending announcements of this through my other stories as well, so non-Reconfiguration readers are aware of the move. We will be getting one more chapter for Reconfiguration on after this one, but after that, if you wish to see the continuation of the story, I'm afraid it will have to be over on Ao3. I apologize to anyone who is not a fan of the site, but I honestly think the Ao3 is a better platform to present my stories from, and I hope it will not prove to be a hindrance to any of my readers. Thank you.

* * *

 **:: Tues-Thurs, June 23-25 ::**

"So is… the answer negative nine?" Honda tried, squinting with his own uncertainty as he looked up at his friends.

But Anzu didn't even glance up as she answered, already focused on the next question as she said, "That's _one_ of the answers, yes."

" _One_ of… so there's two?"

"Of course there's two. It's an absolute value function."

"Well, _yeah…_ but… what's the other one?"

"It's sixteen."

Anzu finally stalled her calculations long enough to look up, shocked that the one who had answered in her place was– "Jounouchi-kun, you solved it that fast? That's actually pretty impre…" She trailed off as she realized where Jounouchi was looking.

Right at her worksheet.

She slammed her elbow down over it as she glared at him. "Stop copying off of me!"

"I'm not! I'm just supplying answers to the others off of you."

"That's worse! It's bad enough if you want to skip studying yourself, but you shouldn't drag the others down with you!"

"I'm still not sure how you got that," Honda mumbled from between them, scratching out a couple lines of work.

Anzu sighed, and – after turning _over_ her worksheet – faced Honda. "Here, I'll show you… are you two doing okay, Bakura-kun? Yuugi-kun?"

"We're fine!" Yuugi assured, shooting her a smile from his end of the kitchen table. "We're on question seven already."

"Wow, awesome! So you figured out the last one on your own?"

"Nah," Bakura admitted, offering her a serene grin as he confessed, "Jounouchi told us the answer, too."

…Anzu turned ice blue eyes back on the blond.

Jounouchi was too busy to meet her gaze, though, inspecting the magnets on the Mutou refrigerator… and calling out to the person who walked into the room at just that moment. "Hey, Atem! What're you doing? I thought you were going to hang out with us!"

"What's he gonna do?" Honda snorted, dropping his pencil only to shoot his best friend a bemused look. "Watch us do homework?"

"I agreed to help out late in the shop while you study," Atem explained, shooting Jounouchi a smile… that faded into nothing as his gaze slid slowly towards his partner. No expression really replaced it as he looked at Yuugi, but Jounouchi still found himself stalling just before speaking, his mouth snapping shut as he glanced curiously from one 'Mutou' to the other.

Anzu, Bakura, and Honda all quickly mimicked him… but Yuugi didn't notice. He was still focused on his worksheet, erasing some answer to replace it with new numbers.

But as the silence dragged on, he finally stalled… and glanced up… flicked his eyes from one friend, to another… then finally to Atem. He stared back at the hard-faced king, his face blank one moment too long… before he offered the other man a soft, curious smile. "What's up?"

Atem's mouth, already thin with silent strain, tightened a breath more– then relaxed as he asked, "Did your mother say what we're doing for dinner? She usually starts prepping the food by now."

"Yeah, but she said she was short on vegetables," Yuugi answered– so casually, with an ease that knocked his friends out of their mutual tension, leaving them blinking confused and uncertain as they glanced at one another, as though to confirm their brief alarm hadn't been just _them_ in the first place. "She went to the store, and the lines are probably bad right now, so who knows how fast she'll be back."

"We… didn't mean to put your mother out, Yuugi-kun. We can always move to the living room," Anzu slid in, voice hesitant with the awkward sense that drawing her friends' attention away from each other would be infringing on… _something._

But no, Yuugi just shook his head, not a hint of the oddness they all felt within his smile. "Don't worry, she's just making stir-fry. If we can finish up in the next half an hour or so, we'll be out of her way for sure, even if she does miss the crowd."

"I'll get out of your way, then," Atem said, his flat expression as impassive as his partner's smile as he bypassed the table– briefly opening the fridge to pull out a bottle and tip it in their direction. "I just came in for a drink."

Yuugi offered no reply save a simple hum as he focused back on his worksheet, but Jounouchi tossed out a "Make sure you get off in time to play a game with us later!" that Atem answered with a wordless thumbs up, tossed over his shoulder as he left the kitchen, never looking back.

"I wonder how long his shift actually is," Bakura mused aloud… covering the quiet Atem left in his wake as the three friends all frowned their own disapproval.

Jounouchi frowned at the king's retreating back as he disappeared into the hallway.

Anzu frowned at Yuugi, his head already bowed over his worksheet again.

Honda just… frowned at nothing... only to stand up a bare two seconds later. "I gotta take a leak."

* * *

"Hey, Atem."

Borrowed studded boots stalled, and Atem turned around just halfway down the hall between the house and the shop. He'd recognized the voice instantly, so there was no shock to disturb his usual, sharp gaze as he looked back at his friend, his free hand resting on his hip as he asked, "What is it, Honda?"

The approaching teen opened his mouth– only to stumble for sound at the blunt, knowing look in those deep red eyes. Their attention made Honda grimace, and while he _did_ speak up, he did so while frowning at the wall over Atem's shoulder. "I just wanted to know, did something happen? I mean, it might not be any of my business, but you've been acting weird today… you and Yuugi both."

"Weird how?"

"I don't know, just…" Honda shrugged, shifting on his feet before stuffing his hands in his pockets and bracing his shoulders with defensive stiffness. "Like you're both keeping everybody at arm's length in your own ways, you know? And not just with us– with each other, too. And since this is the first time I've had a chance to see you properly since the sleepover, I just wanted to make sure I didn't– I don't know, _screw something up_ or something. You know, with what _I_ said."

He managed to spout out his last words with a far more direct gaze, but even though Atem didn't look away, Honda couldn't read much in his face. Whatever cards he was holding close to his chest, apparently Atem wasn't ready to share them, even with his bluff called out. He just… stared back at him for a long moment… then finally turned his head and frowned down the hallway, towards the kitchen. "I don't know what to tell you."

…A 'there's nothing wrong' or 'it wasn't you' or 'I'm fine' should have gone there, Honda was sure of it. Heard it in Atem's voice. And yet… he didn't say it. Just stared at him like _he_ was supposed to say something, and Atem was waiting for him to just _say it already_ so that he could make his own move. Trigger some trap.

Honestly, if this was even _half_ of what it would feel like to duel the guy, Honda was glad he'd never tried.

Thankfully, he at least had enough sense to not walk _knowingly_ into that mess– or to force an answer Atem didn't want to give. If he wanted to keep whatever was going on in his head and between himself and Yuugi private, then– "Okay," he eventually answered, giving a nod to nobody before scratching the back of his neck as he turned to go. "Sorry for bothering you, man."

"…The way you said that."

Honda didn't even make it two steps. He paused with his foot just barely into the second, and turned back to the face the one who had spoken.

But Atem wasn't looking back at _him._ He was staring _beyond_ him, his expression completely void as he eyed the hall over Honda's shoulder and asked, "Then it _was… aibou_ who you were thinking of? When you said that at Bakura's?"

"–Ah, shit." Honda followed his gaze and eyed the hall himself, skin suddenly itching from imagined, prying eyes and pricked ears. But no one was there, and he could just barely make out Jounouchi and Anzu's voices in the distances, muffled by two or three layers of wall, so he turned back to Atem with a weary huff and confession. "I was trying to avoid that– you know, mentioning him specifically. It'd suck if I was wrong, after all, and I didn't want to make things weird, or cause pointless trouble for you two, but… _yeah."_ Atem's general questions after that movie had given Honda the idea to actually _say_ something, sure, but it was _Yuugi_ who actually made Honda think he should say something at all– who made him actually _look_ at the two and consider them. Together. Yuugi himself… and the way Atem _looked_ at him, like he'd like nothing better in the world than to just keep his eyes locked on him for the rest of time.

That might not be as straightforward as the half a dozen breathless, starstruck looks Honda caught _Yuugi_ shooting the pharaoh, but still… Atem didn't look at any of the _rest_ of them like that!

And sure, it might have all meant nothing, but when Honda just _thought_ about it? Yuugi stumbling towards some revelation, Atem not understanding the concept enough to get there _at all,_ the two of them edging towards some understanding at a snail's pace with Atem leaving right on the horizon? It all just screamed of a collision course with trouble in Honda's book. And he didn't want to see that… but it looked like his plan to make Atem think about the matter without planting his _own_ suspicions in his head had been pointless. Honda sighed with the failure of it– only to start and turn wide brown eyes back on the pharaoh, because– "Wait, the way you said that just now… You put it together on your own already?" _He_ sure hadn't mentioned Yuugi at all, so–!

Atem turned his attention down to his drink, popping the top off as he nodded once. "Aa."

Honda wheezed out a long breath and deflated into relief, grinning with the weight of _that_ off of his back. "Oh, okay! Good! Then I…" But, as the thought sunk in, context quickly followed, and his expression faded into stunned uncertainty.

Atem just stared right through his astonished gaze, his open drink left untouched in his hand as he asked, "What made you think that?"

"Huh? What– what do you mean?"

"About us… _aibou_ and I. What made you think there's something like… _that_ between us?" Even the indirect illusion seemed to trigger something, and even though Atem had been looking back at him all along, suddenly Atem was _actually looking at him,_ and Honda's mouth felt like it had shrunk around his tongue, and there was no room to move it as he took in the raw regret in his friend's eyes, the twist of his mouth and teeth as Atem fought to maintain outward calm around asking, " _What did I do?"_

…When he actually _tried_ to open his mouth, Honda's jaw unhinged just as it should have, but still he found he had nothing to say. But Atem– his open, uncharacteristic show of anguish deserved so much more from him than silence, and at the very _least_ direct honesty. So Honda… he shook his head, and offered his friend what little he had. "Nothing, man. You didn't… _do_ anything, it was just– nothing specific, just…" He could only shrug, meeting Atem grim gaze for grim gaze. "Just– the way you look at each other, I guess. The way you act and smile and stuff together. From where I stood, it just… it looked like somebody in love to me."

 _Two_ somebodies, to be exact.

And it was such a given in Honda's eyes, that answer… and yet, something shifted in _Atem's_ eyes. Honda couldn't say if that was good, or bad, for the pharaoh's deep red eyes had fogged over again, and when his gaze shifted back to the wall, his thoughts were clearly somewhere far, far away… or perhaps caught somewhere deep within himself.

But that left _him_ with nothing, and when the quiet dragged on eight, nine seconds, Honda finally had to ask, "Are you cool? I know it sounds pretty lame when I say it out loud like that–"

"I'm fine," Atem answered before he could even finish, gaze still elsewhere… but it shifted back to him after another couple of seconds, and that thoughtful, vague frown Honda knew well was back on his face as he nodded. "Thanks for telling me."

"…No problem," Honda offered, squinting as though _that_ would help him see pask that familiar mask.

Atem didn't even acknowledge it, though. Just took a long belated swig of his drink and turned away, continuing his trek to the shop. "I'll see you after work."

"Sure…" Honda watched him go… frowning the whole time because, even after all of that, he hadn't gotten the one thing he had come there for.

 _What had happened?_

…He sighed, and turned back the way he had come.

Tempting as it was to follow, ask more questions, or even turn to _Yuugi,_ Honda had to admit it: he'd pried and meddled enough as it was, and he really knew more than he needed to already. _Something_ was going on, he was sure of that much, and at the very least, he could walk away certain that _ignorance_ wasn't part of the problem.

And if Atem – or Yuugi – wanted to open up and ask for more, that… was really just their choice.

He'd have to leave it to them.

* * *

"Atem, you don't need to do that. Just wait until we're closed and I'll have Yui bring out the vacuum."

"I've got it," the man who had once ruled a kingdom and defeated a millennia old demon insisted, his words muffled as he practically punched at a wall corner with his hand duster. And his efforts _did_ manage to dislodge a cluster of gritty bunnies… but with nowhere else to go in the tiny space between the floor and the bottom shelf, they flew right into his face.

Even with a cloth tied over his nose, he hit his head on the wood, coughing.

"What did I tell you?" his company huffed somewhere above and behind him, just before a thick pair of hands caught him under the thighs and dragged him out from under the shelf. Atem flinched and grimaced as his apron caught on the concrete and his shirt rode up against his belly, the wrinkles biting into his skin as he came back out into the light– and into sight of a frowning Sugoroku. "What made you think cleaning that up with the dust right in your face was a good idea? I told you we could just wait for–"

"If we wait for Yui, and then for dinner to be over, we'll have to leave all of this out overnight," Atem argued, pushing himself up onto his elbows– to discover Sugoroku offering him a hand. He stared at it for a good two seconds… before finally accepting it, mouth set flat and tense as he got to his feet.

Sugoroku handed him the Puzzle, and and he accepted it with a mumbled, "Thanks."

"And so what?" the older man said, not even acknowledging Atem's quiet words. "The world's not going to end just because we leave a few boxes out in the storage room overnight. Go on, you should be getting back to Yuugi and your friends! We can take care of the rest of this in the morning," Sugoroku reassured… but Atem failed to return his smile… and before long they were both frowning again, Atem at the piles of boxes scattered around their feet, and Sugoroku… Atem couldn't prove it, since he didn't look up, but he was still sure that the man was glowering at _him._

In the end, Sugoroku just sighed, and when Atem glanced back up at him, he was shaking his head. "If you're that worried about it, you can go ahead and finish up in here on your own. It's usually slow this time of night anyways, I can handle the shop on my own," he allowed, turning for the door without waiting for a response he was pretty sure he would never get, anyways. "Just come out when you have everything set straight to your liking!"

Atem didn't respond to the allowance or the subtle jab, his eyes caught on the dusty cover of an old game board sticking out of one of the fraying boxes… But when Sugoroku's footsteps faded away and he found himself alone? He yanked off the duster and face cloth and dropped them on the floor, sending another cloud of dust flying as he glowered at the mess around him.

Atem had jumped on the chance to clean out the room when the shop proved to be dead, the silence dangerous and threatening when all he wanted tonight was a distraction… but now, his shift was nearly over, his mind was still infested with thoughts he just couldn't wipe out, and… and he had thought he could at least makes sense of _this_ – a neglected shelf with rampant dust – but no, he was forced to walk away with a mess in his wake.

What exactly was he doing with himself, anyways?

He knew there was nothing else to say, after all. Nothing left to clear up… and yet…

" _-!_ "

…What?

Atem turned and stared out of the open door, listening.

He couldn't make out any of the words being tossed around loudly in the other room, but that _voice_.

He abandoned the boxes and went back to the shop.

"…want to go into your house, either, but if you don't call him out, I can't–" The sharp voice cut off the second Atem stepped through shop's back entrance, and the two… stared at one another, confusion shifting to mirrored shock.

 _Kaiba._

And for a moment, Atem wasn't in the game shop, but a painted, stone room, long and large and full of people, the first and foremost among them a man with a tall blue hat and blue garb and familiar blue eyes smirking up at him.

But _this_ man wasn't smirking, or smiling, and Atem wasn't certain he even _saw_ him properly. He looked more like he was staring right _through_ him, and–

"Yuugi?"

Atem blinked, tugged his eyes off of Kaiba, and… and his world shifted back to the four walls around him when he saw _Mokuba_ looking back at him. "Is that… really you? Or I mean, _not_ you?" the boy corrected, his gaze sliding to the top of Atem's head– and sticking there with a twist of his nose.

Atem grit his teeth against any impulse expression and reached up to tug off the second cloth that had been protecting his hair… There was a spider web stuck to it. He let it stick to his hand, reluctant to draw enough attention to wipe it off.

He was starkly aware of the dirt on his face and the turtle smiling back at them from his apron.

He looked at Kaiba, expecting some comment… but he just kept _staring_ at him, like what he saw just didn't make sense.

"No, this is not Yuugi," Sugoroku supplied, cutting into the silence before it could actually drag on. The man was leaning on his counter, elbows against the glass, and he was eying Kaiba with an irritation thinly layered beneath a soft calm– a faint smile over hard but easing eyes. "So if I can repeat my earlier question? If you _are_ looking for one of my boys, which one do you want? Yuugi or Atem?"

"Then, it's _true_ then?!" Mokuba yelped, eyeing Atem with eyes as wide as saucers.

Atem just frowned. "What do you–"

"Hey, Atem! Anzu's headed home, but Yuugi wants to play Risk. Are you gonna come back in anytime soon, or should…" Jounouchi said as he came through the back door, trailing off as he realized who else was in the room… stalling for all of two seconds before snapping, "What the hell are _you_ doing here?!"

And finally, Kaiba seemed to find his voice, even if it was just to snort and sneer at the newcomer, life returning to his features as he looked back – and down – at the blond. "That's none of your business– and I could ask you the same thing. Even in Yuugi's own house? Are you _never_ underfoot around him?"

" _Why you–"_

"Hey, why are you yelling in the–" Honda came up short just behind Jounouchi, back straight and stiff with shock and the effort not to run into him.

Three figures trailed in behind him, all staring with the same surprise. Anzu, Bakura, and–

"Holy cow, it _is_ true," Mokuba breathed, looking from Yuugi… to 'Yuugi' in disbelief. "There… actually _are_ two of you."

Yuugi followed his gaze, and Atem looked back, and for the briefest moment there was something other than shock in their eyes.

Then Yuugi looked back at the unexpected visitors, confusion taking over. "Mokuba-kun? Kaiba-kun? What are you–"

"What is all this noise back here? I told you kids to keep it down while the shop is–"

A tenth person joined the little crowd, but this one remained hovering in the doorway, filling it up with an arm's full of groceries as she looked at the two visitors.

Expression completely blank.

"Ah, Mama?" Yuugi tried, waving vaguely towards two brothers even as his mother failed to look at him. "This is Kaiba Seto, and Moku-"

"I know who they are, dear," Yui interrupted, voice coated in a sweetness that earned no reaction from most of the group, but Sugoroku's brows rose as Yuugi and Atem tensed in recognition. She smiled down at Mokuba. "And if that young man would like to stay and shop, that would be fine, but I'm afraid the other one will have to leave."

Kaiba… slid slowly into a frown. "What?"

Yui shifted her smile to him, the thick coating on her expression making Atem grimace and look searchingly at his partner. Yuugi could only look back, just as lost as he was. "Yes, I'm afraid you need to leave. We reserve the right to deny service where we deem necessary, so I'm going to have to ask you to go."

"I… think he came to talk to us," Yuugi tried, earning a short, flat glance from his mother before she looked right back at their guest, all fronts and smiles gone from her hard eyes.

"If you wish to speak to the person who nearly killed your grandfather and gave him a heart attack, that is your choice, Yuugi-kun, but I won't have him on _Otou-san's_ property."

"What– that– _Jii-chan?"_ Yuugi tried, looking plaintively to the man this was all about.

Sugoroku merely shrugged, a sage acceptance on his face as he put out both hands in apparent surrender. "If those are your mother's feelings, Yuugi, I wouldn't feel right overriding them."

Somewhere behind Atem, Jounouchi snorted.

He didn't look back at him though, shifting his focus back to Kaiba, wondering what he would do. Atem _wanted_ to talk to him, but if he fought Yui on this and caused trouble for the Mutous–

And Mokuba certainly looked askance – and guilty – but the elder Kaiba? He just stared right back at Yui… then turned tail and walked out, not a word spoken, Mokuba right at his heels as soon as he noticed.

They all watched the exit for a good three seconds before Jounouchi finally broke the silence.

"That _worked?"_

Atem didn't wait for anyone to reply. He followed.

Half a minute later, he was standing in front of Kame Game with Jounouchi and Yuugi at his side, his other friends hanging back a few paces as they all faced the brothers, who stood before their long sleek car.

"Sorry about that, but– why are you here, guys?" Yuugi was asking, glancing uncertainly from one Kaiba to the other. "It's good to see you both, but I thought you were in America working on Kaibaland."

"We were," Mokuba supplied, his bright smile at the mention an honest relief to the group in the wake of the tension they had just left behind. "But we got a call from Isis last night about– well, 'Atem' here."

Isis?

Beside him Yuugi shut his mouth on a sharp inhale, and Atem frowned, mind already whirling. Because _of course,_ Isis had said she would do what she needed to to smooth his way out of the country, and she would likely need someone with inside knowledge and resources _in_ Japan to do it. And if _anyone_ had the power to arrange that–

"She asked you to set up my passport," he surmised, crossing his arms above the Puzzle. "So that I can go to Egypt."

"Yeah, which is really stupid," Mokuba observed, snorting with an eye roll. "Seto and I could get you to Egypt anytime you want, no passport required."

"But I'm not going to act as your chauffeur anytime you want to cross borders," Kaiba added with a crisp disapproval. "Still, I have to ask– why do you think I'd break laws and come back to Japan just to hand over some falsified paperwork to you?"

"I didn't ask you to do anything," Atem retorted, choosing to ignore the argument 'you came back to Japan just to _ask_ ' in favor of admitting, "I do need them, though, so if you _can_ make them–"

"Can and will are two different things," Kaiba interrupted, meeting him stare for stare… until a voice edged into the conversation.

"Um, not to change the subject," Bakura said with an apologetic smile, raising his hand in a small wave as they all looked to him. "But, aren't you at all curious why Yuugi-kun and Atem-kun are separate now?"

"Isis already said it was something with the Millennium Items and spirit that was in that Ring you wore, but it doesn't matter." Kaiba's expression slide back into its default frowning disinterest as he glanced from Atem… to Yuugi. "That's the one I have a loss to repay with, and that's the one I don't. And that's as much as I need to know. The details don't concern me."

Atem wasn't certain what expression his partner made, since he didn't look. All he could see in his periphery was the slow, loose clench of Yuugi's hand.

Atem kept his eyes on Kaiba, though, narrow and sharp and protesting. " _Aibou_ has always been part of our battles, but this has nothing to do with that."

"So you say," Kaiba retorted, expression not shifting even an inch with the argument. Apparently, he found it too predictable to bother with. "But that's exactly what I'm here _about."_

"You said you were here about the passport."

"That's what _you_ want out of it," he countered, the faintest smile touching his face– a look caught somewhere between that last glance Atem remembered from Battle City, and his far more familiar leer. "But, even if I was willing to let our battle go until the expansion plans in America were set, that doesn't mean I'm going to let a chance slip by. If you want something from me, Y–"

He stopped.

His expression blanked out… and silence fell across the group as they all took in what he was clearly about to say.

Even Jounouchi didn't say anything.

And after a second, Kaiba recovered himself and glared his challenge right at him– at Atem. "If you want it, you're going to have to win it."

* * *

"So, this is _good,_ right?"

Atem's brow creased with the question– and then he dismissed it, focus snapping forward as a machine gave a loud _pow_ and something shot straight at his face. He aimed, swung, connected with the ball just in time– but it hit the net off to the left, yards away from the home run target. Atem breathed out a silent, tangled frustration, and answered Otogi without looking back. "It's straightforward enough. If I duel Kaiba tomorrow–" Another ball shot. Another swing. Another off-hit, and another frown. "And win, he'll arrange my passport and any other legal identification I might need."

Another shot. This one he missed entirely, and he grit his teeth against reacting… and against the pain shooting through his head.

"I'm honestly shocked he agreed to wait that long," Jounouchi mused somewhere behind him, beyond the safety net that separated Atem from his friends. "I thought he was going to make you face him right then and there in the street yesterday."

"Why _didn't_ he, for that matter?"

"I said–" Atem answered Otogi, until to cut himself off. Swing. Grimace. "I was working, and it was almost dinner time."

"And he _accepted_ that?"

"Not until I promised to face him tomorrow, before he goes back to America."

Another ball came sailing his way, and as Otogi started to ask, "Does that mean you're still going to get to–" Atem missed again, and hissed out a gargled breath… and tensed as he realized Otogi had cut himself off, and no one was talking.

He chanced a glance back to discover everyone staring at him.

"Uh, Atem?" Honda tried, standing up from the metal wire table the group was sitting at, just beyond the batting cage. "You having a problem?"

"No, I–" He glanced back as another _pow_ sounded from the shooter, and side-stepped the batter's spot, letting the baseball hit the net and bounce away as he focused on his friends. "I'm just having trouble concentrating."

"In that case, why don't you let me take a crack at it? I'm not the one who we're all trying to talk to here."

And with that – reluctant as he was to _give up_ before even managing one hit – Atem traded places with Honda, letting his friend take a turn at the bat while _he_ claimed his vacant seat, rubbing a corner of his brow as he settled down at the table with Otogi, Jounouchi, and his partner.

He wasn't quite sure how they had ended up there, as baseball was never something he considered a personally fun pastime, but Jounouchi and Honda had latched onto the idea, Otogi had been up for anything so long as he heard about what he had missed yesterday, and since Anzu and Bakura were busy with their own stuff today, no one had protested. He and Yuugi had just gone along with it.

He and… Yuugi…

He dropped his hand and considered his partner, just there out of the corner of his eye and at the end of his elbow.

Yuugi was sitting just there, to his right, his own elbows resting on the table edge as he supported his chin with both hands and watched their friends, Jounouchi boasting to a scoffing Otogi that he could definitely hit three home runs in a row. There was a small, steady grin on Yuugi's face as he listened, but… but it was thin, somehow. Forgettable, and easily lost, and his expression blanked out completely when he shifted his gaze and saw _him_ looking at his way.

The impulse to look away was strong and instant and undeniable, but Atem fought it. Stomped it down by staring right back at him– his partner. And Yuugi… showed nothing. Even when Atem looked right at him, and _knew_ that smile was false, he could see nothing beyond it.

"What?"

Atem shook his head, offered a dutiful, "Nothing," and turned back to Otogi as he said his name.

"Atem, you didn't answer me. Are we going to get to watch your duel tomorrow?"

"Yeah, if you like. I'm not meeting him until after five, at KaibaCorp so everyone will be off school and free to come."

" _Awesome,"_ Jounouchi said, his eyes glinting and smirk gleeful as he leaned forward on his arms. "Remember to tell Kaiba that if he wants a duel, we _have_ to be there, okay? And no 'if we want to' about it, or he might just lock us out at the last minute or something. And I've _got_ to see this."

A layer of natural ease overlaid Atem's forced calm as he shot the blond a small smirk. "If he's set on winning this, I think he'll want all of the witnesses he can get."

"Pffft, like he _could!_ You're going to wipe the floor with him and look amazing doing it! Just like always."

And Atem had started to laugh, amused and grateful for the open faith… but the humor tripped on itself at those last words.

And Jounouchi noticed. "What?" Atem must have twitched or flinched or _something,_ because Jounouchi shifted from confused to incredulous in the space of a second. "Dude, you don't think you'd actually _lose,_ do y–"

"I won't allow myself to lose," he assured, not even waiting for Jounouchi to finish… but still he frowned, glowered at some nothing just beyond his friend's shoulder. "But it's still different."

" _What?!_ Different how? I mean, come on! You're not hung up on how he looked at you back at the shop, are you? You're still you, we're still here, and you still have the Puzzle! What's different?! You can still win!"

"That's not it," he denied, mind sliding briefly back to the expression on Kaiba's face when he first saw him yesterday– but Atem felt nothing but a numb sort of acceptance for that. "And it's not about if I can _win,_ it's just…" He was honestly _happy_ to have the chance to duel Kaiba once more, and he _was_ fairly confident he would win, because he _had_ to, but… but that necessity to win just mixed restlessly with this other feeling– this feeling that it _wasn't the same._ Even if he had always taken a strongly personal, solo hand when it came to his duels with Kaiba, he had still… he had never fought him truly alone.

His gaze skipped to his partner.

And Yuugi didn't say anything, but he saw. Violet eyes that had already been set on him went wide, froze– and stayed that way as Atem stared somberly back at him, and watched the understanding rise in his partner's mind… Only then did Yuugi's expression shift a little.

And Atem still couldn't see anything beyond it, but–

But he could feel the attention fixed on them both, and so he turned back to their openly confused friends, and shrugged. "I just wonder if it will feel the same."

Jounouchi looked from Atem to his best friend and back with a quick, searching eye, then frowned. "Well, who cares if it feels the same or not? Just let loose! Forget all of the details hanging over it, and enjoy the rush of handing that guy his own ass."

"Forget? I can't do that. If I don't take it seriously and _do_ lose–"

"Then you'll try again!" Jounouchi all but snapped before suddenly relaxing back into his chair, crossing his arms with a snort and a smirk. "What? You actually think Kaiba would say _no,_ get on his plane, head back to America, and leave it at that? No way. He might _claim_ he doesn't need to duel again if he wins, but trust me, he won't be able to let it go if you challenge him and he walks away. It'll haunt him, and that guy just can't let sleeping dragons lie."

Yuugi gave a quiet, weak sniff of a laugh, but Atem didn't echo him. He was too busy taking in Jounouchi's argument and… realizing he had a point.

Otogi didn't laugh either, though… for his own reasons. "Was that supposed to be funny?"

"Oh, shut up! I'm hilarious." Jounouchi aimed a loose punch at Otogi's arm, and missed as the guy swerved. But the blond didn't seem to mind, skipping a second attempt to grin at his best friend. "Oh, and Yuugi?"

"Yeah?"

"Your mom? She's officially my hero."

* * *

Two hours later, Atem and Yuugi were back in the later's bedroom: Atem on the bed, playing; Yuugi at his desk, studying.

Supposedly.

Yuugi jotted something down on his English worksheet, unsure if he had just written 'Jack went to the store for some milk' or 'Jack some store got at the milk.' He would probably be sure if he checked his dictionary and sentence structure cheat sheet, but it didn't really matter. He'd already accepted that he would be double checking and corrected this assignment before school tomorrow, anyways. It was just busy work right now.

Busy work to cover the fact that, even if he didn't dare a side-glance, he was focused on Atem.

As always.

Whether Atem was in the room with him or not, Yuugi had thought about little else in the last forty-eight hours… or, at least the last _forty-four_ or so. The first few had been little more than a fog and a damp weight in his chest as he focused on keeping his reaction hidden from his other– no, from his whole family. He'd had dinner and done homework and played games and all of his usual evening stuff right in front of all of them and… probably been too quiet the whole time, but he'd gotten through it with little more than passing glances from his mother and grandfather. And even though he'd felt eyes burning on his face the whole time, Atem never said anything. Which was just as well, because it took all of Yuugi's focus to keep a wall between him and his feelings, and if Atem had _said something…_

But… even so, Yuugi had gone to bed with that weight still there, still inside of him, and… and as he lay there, staring at the wall, painfully aware of the other _right there_ on the floor behind him? He realized something.

It was pointless.

He could try and smother these thoughts and feelings now that they had nowhere to go, but they were _still there,_ and… and he had to deal with them. No matter what Atem said, no matter the fact he was _right,_ this weight was still Yuugi's to live with, and he couldn't get rid of it.

He could only try to understand it.

And so, he was trying.

But he hadn't tried to hide away or anything to think it through. He'd gone about his day and lingered among the people he cared about, the same as always, but… but he wasn't truly focused on any of it. He was in his own head, working it over, puzzling over every memory and thought and feeling he could recall related to his other self. They were all there, after all, inside of him, laid out in one long, single line of time and change. And _that_ was useless for his purposes– just a sequence of cause and effect and day-to-day life. Yuugi needed to tear those memories apart, piece them back together the proper way, and find the shape they made when he considered them all at once.

All… all of his feelings… as one whole.

It was just _hard._ So many things refused to be pinned down, left him flailing for steady ground, while others… others were easy to grasp, but so, so _much_ that when he added them to the bigger picture, and saw just… just a glimpse of _what_ he was truly dealing with?

It was dizzying… _intimidating…_ If he felt half this overwhelmed dwarfed by the pyramids when he finally got a chance to see them in person? He'd be shocked.

But he kept at it, and all the while remained… 'drawn into' himself.

And he knew everyone noticed, sort of. He was being too quiet, staying back one step too far from the conversations and people around him. But it couldn't be helped. One way or another, Yuugi would be troubled, and he'd rather be distracted for _this_ than… than from just wallowing in it all. And thankfully, no one seemed to be _certain_ of his hidden mood save for… Atem himself… and while he kept eying him across the gulf separating them, he never tried to cross it– left Yuugi to his thoughts.

Even now, Yuugi distantly noted it– another gap of silence between Atem's rapid button presses on Yuugi's Game Boy.

He had to be looking at him.

Again.

But Yuugi didn't look up… and after a breath, Atem returned to his game, and left Yuugi to his thoughts, his efforts to consider each of his recalled feelings, never trying to put a name to any one of them. He didn't need to. He wasn't looking for some sort of _revelation_ after all, because… because he already knew what the solution would be. He _knew_ what the answer was– had known ever since that weight crushed him two nights ago, with Atem's bid to box this all away.

Which was his right. He didn't owe Yuugi anything, after all. It was just… Yuugi wanted to understand. The whole picture _and_ every bit that made it up, because… because he would have to face it all _eventually,_ and… and even if he would just box it away in the end, too? He wanted to understand it while Atem was still there, beside him. He… he didn't want to have to go through this completely, _truly_ alone.

Just having Atem there beside him made him feel brave.

And he'd done it, for the most part. He'd worked through most of his memories in the last couple of days, recalled his own actions and such, and now… now there wasn't much left anymore.

He just– he kept _hiccuping_ when he considered this last week, and– well, the last few months.

In particular, how Atem… made him _feel,_ literally speaking.

He'd already liked him… _that_ way. Yuugi had pieced that much together already. Retroactively recognized the draw and nervous energy around his other self that had crept up on him long before Zorc gave Atem a body again. By the end, it was just _there_ on the edge of Yuugi's awareness, pretty much… pretty much constantly… at least, when they didn't have vengeful threats or fate breathing down their necks.

But… he… _that…_ did that draw _really_ translate to… If he _really_ thought about his reactions to Atem, was _that_ really what he…

Yuugi dropped his pencil and pressed his fingers against his cheeks and eyes, rubbing up against the sides of his nose with a weary sigh… only to reach down and pick up his pencil again when he realized the sounds from the bed had ceased again.

He feigned writing.

…The soft tap-tap of game buttons resumed.

And he– Yuugi needed to stop trying to break this down _that_ far. Needed to stop doubting himself. This part at least didn't _need_ logic or details or memories to work out, after all. _This_ part was pretty simple, if he would just face it straight-on. He might try to wrap it up in pretty feelings and sincere feelings and troubled feelings, but it was all just so much more _visceral_ than that.

 _Did_ he find Atem attractive?

…Yes.

No– no, more than that, a _lot_ of people were _attractive._ Atem… captivated him.

 _Why?_

He liked him– no… no, that was too small a word. Even _love_ was too small of a word. Or, no, not too small, but not all encompassing enough. Yuugi needed a whole _pile_ of words to describe _that–_ that… what he felt.

But the point remained. That pile of feelings gave _meaning_ to that attraction. Pile plus attraction equals _this._ Simple, easy to understand, clear.

But, _why_ did he, _Yuugi,_ find Atem attractive? They were different, especially _now,_ but still– shouldn't it be _strange_ that he found his _other self_ attractive?

...No. It was the things about Atem that were _just him_ that charmed Yuugi, after all. Not the mirror.

The things that made him _Atem._

…He hesitated a long moment, but finally Yuugi dared to turn his head and _look_ at him.

Atem didn't notice. He must have been in the middle of some challenging puzzle or fight, because his focus was soundly on the tiny black-and-white screen.

Which was just as well, because it gave Yuugi the freedom to relax and consider and look openly.

So he looked. Took in the profile, the air of the man sitting not five feet away from him, on his bed, back against the headboard and legs crossed so he could rest his forearms on his thighs as he played.

He was frowning, but it wasn't a troubled look, like so many he had given in the last couple of days. He was just riveted by the game, and giving it everything he had– like he did everything that mattered to him. And it was such a slight shift as far as appearances went, but Yuugi… he saw the difference. Saw it, and where Atem's distress would have infected him? That sheer, pure zeal pouring off of him then, even in that quiet, still moment? It milked at Yuugi's tension, ebbed it away and left him floating until– until he went on with his calculated observation as if… as if he were taking it all in from a distance. As if he was considering his own thoughts in some sort of bubble, untouched and untroubled by the weight and meaning that would follow. All he need do was _look_ at Atem… and marvel.

Because he _was_ attractive– and attractive to Yuugi, to boot. And it was strange, because it wasn't in any sense that he could quite pin down, or equate to his straightforward liking for soft faces and soft hands and soft curves when he noticed a pretty girl… or a pretty anybody. And, despite the fact he knew _objectively_ that _most_ people might find Atem appealing, that wasn't… that wasn't the point. Not to Yuugi. It wasn't his eyes or his face or his body or anything. It was that it was _Atem's. His_ face and his– just his general bearing, the very way he carried himself, his confidence that shone _and_ warmed, the _smiles_ he offered with those eyes and mouth, the way he used those hands– even now, agile and nimble and even graceful, just playing over a couple of buttons, and– and they weren't soft. Yuugi remembered that. Atem's fingers and palms were rough, but they were also _warm_ and so oddly capable and careful when he touched him, and– and he smelled good. Yuugi had only had a couple of chances to notice, and logically the smell had to be his own soap and clothes, but it was true. And it was a weird thought, but– but it was one of the most _real_ things about his other self now, and Yuugi loved it. And now, and before? Atem was just so _expressive,_ and after all this time Yuugi honestly didn't know where the physical reality ended and his lost spiritual awareness began, but still– everything that was Atem just _blazed_ on his face, in his eyes, and in everything. The glares and the smiles, the wonder of a stance and a look, the give of a wrinkle between his eyes or the pinch of his lips…

He was pinching them now, struggling through that game.

They were slightly chapped, those lips– probably because Atem kept forgetting to drink enough liquids.

And the answer there was clearly some water, or lip balm, but all Yuugi wanted to do was reach out and touch them. Rub a thumb across the bottom lip and feel for himself. See if Atem would pinch them tighter, or soften… open his mouth and breathe over his fingertip.

What would that feel like?

And if he replaced his thumb with his mouth, then…

What would Atem do if he actually _did_ that? Came in close enough to touch him like that? Kissed him? Would he stiffen, pull away, or flush? Would his cheeks feel warm to the touch? His neck? If Yuugi pressed his face there, along the soft curve, would he feel the heat of Atem's flush against his cheek? Would his other self smell different if he _buried_ himself in Atem's arms, discovered what his skin felt like against his skin, his lips, would–

Atem looked up, right at him, and Yuugi belatedly registered that he had sucked in a breath a little too loudly.

And when Atem furrowed his brow and pinched his lips again, Yuugi chuckled.

Laughed– at himself.

He tossed his pencil, abandoned his chair, and settled on the foot of the bed with a smile. "What are you playing?"

Atem blinked out of the confused frown that had taken over his face, trading it for a startled wonder… that softened as he looked down at his screen, and turned it for Yuugi to see.

He leaned in just close enough to look, and– the smile that curled at his lips ached at the corners.

 _Pokémon._

The copy Yuugi had gotten a while back, just for Atem.

"I'm trying to force my way through the tower."

"You look a little underleveled for it," Yuugi observed as he assessed the Wartortle displayed at the bottom of the screen.

"I want that Haunter," Atem insisted, tone and expression hard, stubborn– until Yuugi laughed, and stone cracked with a hint of a grin.

"Alright, I get you. Just make sure you get a Gastly and level it up, so the stats will be better," Yuugi advised, grinning at the king, who smiled right back at him with a warmth and gratitude that made his chest feel heavy. He sat with it, though, pushed his focus elsewhere– onto the topic that had been hanging between them all evening, as yet untouched. "Are you feeling better about your duel tomorrow?"

"Yes." Atem took the game back, staring at it as he sighed, tone allowing and bending with his own acknowledgement. "Jounouchi's right, after all. It should be fine, even if it will be strange without you there beside me."

Hearing it said out loud like that, directly, shouldn't have had such an effect, but it did. Yuugi felt like the air flowed freer from his lungs the moment Atem said it, and he fell effortlessly into another grin. "What do you mean? I'll be watching the battle alongside everyone else. And even if we can't talk during, I'll be right there, the same as always."

And it would be different, he knew that. Knew Atem was right about that… but Yuugi wouldn't let him say _that_ was different. That he wasn't with him.

So long as Atem was there to be _with,_ that would never change.

And as if he had heard it all– not just the words, but the thought? Atem melted, a smile resurfacing as he mumbled, "Thanks, _aibou."_

And Yuugi smiled his reply… and it would have been so easy to let the moment hang, but– but he could feel it there, just on the edge of that high.

That weight.

And so he broke their gaze, standing up. "I'm sick of worksheets. I'm gonna go grab a drink. You want one?"

"No, I'm fine… _aibou?"_

Yuugi stalled two steps from the door and turned back, taking in the oddly hesitant expression on the king's face. "Yeah?"

"Would you help me _before_ the duel, too?" Atem asked after a long drag, hesitance and hope clear in his face. "I want to change a few cards before I face Kaiba, so I was hoping you'd go over the deck with me tonight."

Yuugi… broke out in a grin lighter than anything he'd shown all night– no, in days. "Of course! I'd be happy to! You want to do it right away?"

Atem's expression was beyond relieved as he beamed back at him. "Yes– just let me finish this battle and save, and I'll get the cards out."

"Cool– I'll be right back, so get ready, Atem!"

"Aa," Atem hummed as Yuugi raced through the door, watching him go.

…

His smile… slowly curdled.

His gaze was soft, but heavy as it drifted back to his game.

…

Outside of the room, Yuugi stopped just halfway down the stairs, shoulder digging heavily into the wall as he leaned against it.

He just… _stared…_ worn down… until footsteps made him jerk upright.

"Yuugi-kun?" It was Yui, stalling at the bottom step as she looked up at her son. "What are you doing just standing there?"

"Sorry, Mama! Just thinking," Yuugi apologized, smiling as he came down and side-stepped her. "Is it okay if I take the last soda?"

"Yes, fine, I'm getting more tomorrow. Just drink it quickly! You don't want it in your system too close to bedtime!"

" _Yes–!"_

Yui frowned after Yuugi as he went, hovered on the steps herself… concern plainly written on her face.

* * *

Atem was magnificent.

It was the only word it as Yuugi watched his other self duel.

His other self was back in his element, comfortable and shining in a way Yuugi hadn't seen for a while outside of little highlights with their friends, when they were in the midst of a good game or a lively hangout. And even _those_ were just snapshots. _This_ was one long reel of Atem smirking and calculating his way to victory, _alive_ in the best of ways, even when Kaiba had him on the ropes– no, _especially_ then.

And Yuugi knew he wasn't the only one who noticed. All of his friends at stopped and stared and smiled when they saw Atem walk up to KaibaCorp, his recent norm of shop-appropriate clothes tossed in favor of familiar leather and gold over bare arms.

Even _Kaiba_ had looked relieved when Atem walked in without that turtle apron.

The man's subtle joy had been tossed aside for rapid falls from seething triumph to raging defeat, though, as Atem countered Kaiba's apparent winning attack with a Quick-Play Spell.

"Dedication through Light and Darkness! Dark Magician becomes the _Dark Magician of Chaos!"_

"What– Dark Magician of Chaos is still too weak to stop my Blue Eyes!"

"Not if I play _this–_ Rush Recklessly!"

" _What?!"_

"My monster gains 700 attack points until the end of this turn– and that makes it strong enough to defeat your dragon and _wipe out the rest of your life points!"_

Kaiba gave a yell Yuugi couldn't understand because he was too busy calling out his joy with the rest of his friends, and getting his head caught in a happy armlock by Jounouchi– and he grinned into his friend's sleeve as he watched Atem speaking to his opponent.

He'd won! He was going to get his…

Yuugi's smile fell just a touch before he caught it, and held it in place.

And he did so, _successfully,_ even after he and his friends stalled their celebrating long enough to climb down from the observation deck of Kaiba's private arena to join the duelists– and discovered Mokuba there, too, giving voice to the sudden tension hanging in the air between the two rivals.

"Wait, this isn't– You're not asking for a passport to visit Egypt and find something?! You're going to– to _go?!_ Like, _permanent,_ can't-just-fly-out-to-see-you go?!"

Atem didn't answer. His back was to them, but Yuugi could read the tension in his back, and the clench of his hands.

Ironic, given Yuugi was looking _right at_ Kaiba's face, and he honestly didn't know what the man was thinking in that moment.

He was just… _staring_ at Atem, nothing clear about his reaction beyond shock.

He didn't know. Isis didn't tell him.

And even with no reason visible for it in Kaiba's face, Yuugi… he couldn't help it. Couldn't help the empathy that struck him in that moment.

Then Kaiba turned his back, snapped out a dismissal of some sort, said he would get the passport and such to Atem soon, and walked away… leaving Mokuba looking uncertainly between the pair, and Atem– he just… stood there a long moment… until Anzu's quiet call got him to turn.

"Atem-kun?"

He turned, looked back– at him.

Not them. _Him._ Stared at him like… like he was bracing himself for… something.

And Yuugi… kept smiling as he closed the distance between them, and raised a hand up above his head.

"Congrats, Atem."

And the greatest trial of all was the look in Atem's eyes as he broke out in a smile, met his hand, and they high fived.

"Thanks, _aibou!"_

"Seriously, I've never seen you play that card before!" Jounouchi crowed, the spell seemingly broken as the group swarmed around the game king. "Did you _actually_ set that move up five turns back?!"

"Yes. I put the Dedication card in my deck last night, but I knew it'd only come in handy if I had some extra attack points ready to combo with it."

"I don't get it, man, but from where I was standing, that was one of your best duels yet, and you didn't even use one of the Gods."

"Thanks, Honda."

"Pfft, that must have pissed Kaiba off royally, though. He probably thinks you were holding back or some–"

Jounouchi went on, ignoring Anzu's efforts to alert him to Mokuba standing _right there_ in favor of dissing the CEO and praising his friend's skills… who met the compliments with a wide grin, even as his gaze shifted subtly to the side.

To his partner.

Yuugi didn't notice, because he was smiling at Jounouchi and shaking his head at whatever he was saying… and so he missed it. Missed it when Atem's grin slipped, just for a moment. Missed the way his other self's eyes lingered on him.

Missed the way he clenched the hand Yuugi just high fived him with… as though he didn't want to lose the echo of his touch.


	12. FFN Retirement Notice

**Attention!**

This is just a message to let you know... I am discontinuing use of my Account.

This is not to say I am retiring from writing. Not at all. Just from the website.

And I don't want to bash FFN (it IS where I got my start, after all) but I simply find Archive of Our Own to be an all-around better host for my stories.

Nothing currently up under my name on FFN will be taken down, but this will be the last update to my stories on _this_ site for the foreseeable future.

As such, if you support my stories, or want to catch any future updates, please find me under Phoebe Delos at AO3.

Either way, thank you so much for your readership and time. It's been a blast.

~ Phoebe


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